


LaFiamma! A Marine?

by JoeyPare



Category: Houston Knights
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-07 00:18:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 10
Words: 98,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18399284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoeyPare/pseuds/JoeyPare
Summary: This was first published on Starwinder's Houston Knights web page. On her page the series is titled, The Marine Series. Pseud - Etch.





	1. LaFiamma? A Marine? - Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was first published on Starwinder's Houston Knights web page. On her page the series is titled, The Marine Series. Pseud - Etch.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Joe's former Marine Corps Commanding Officer shows up. It triggers a series of events that will change the partner's lives forever. WARNING: RAPE

   
  
---  
**_Fandom:_** | **_Houston Knights_**  
**_Series:_** | **_Other Authors_**  
**_Rating:_** | **_NC 17_**  
**_Pairing:_** | **_Joe/Levon_**  
**_Archive:_** | **_Starwinder's_**  
**_Title:_** | **_LaFiamma? A Marine?_**  
**_Author:_** | **_Etch / JoeyPare_**  
Standard Disclaimer: Houston Knights belongs to Jay Bernstein and Michael Butler and Columbia Pictures. No copyright infringement is intended. This is fan fiction, written out of love for the shows. I am making no money off this. I have no money so please don't sue me. Any original characters who may appear in these stories are the property of the author.  
  
**-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-**

 

"LaFiamma, will you stop kicking me?" Sergeant Levon Lundy groused sleepily, turning over on his side to look at his lover who was thrashing about on the bed next to him. "Geesh, Joe," Levon gasped, pulling his legs under him, he flattened himself against the headboard to avoid contact with the attacking legs.

The Texan stared down at his naked lover, Sergeant Joseph LaFiamma. Joe was sweating profusely, mumbling in a language Lundy didn't understand, though he knew it wasn't Italian, his face white as the sheet he struggled with. Levon swallowed back the fear growing in the pit of his stomach as the Italian's eyes opened and his face contorted in terror.

"LaFiamma?" The blond whispered, lightly touching his lover's shoulder, only to see the Italian recoil in fear. This was Joe's second nightmare in one night, and Levon was beginning to worry. _[Damn, Joe. I couldn't wake you from the first one. What if I can't wake you from this one?]_

"LAFIAMMA! JOE!" The cowboy barked sharply, hoping that would cut through the fog of the dream, moving back to the edge of the bed in case his lover's legs struck out at the invisible foe he was fighting.

"WHAT!" The Italian shouted, bolting upright, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the sheet, pulling it with him as he sat up.

"Joe? Joey? Come on, man. You're having a hell of a nightmare, wake up!" Concern etched the voice of the blond detective

"Lundy?" Joe rasped quietly, not believing at first, that the naked man touching him was his partner, his lover.

"I'm here, partner. What is it? Maybe if you talk about..." Lundy began cautiously.

"He's coming," Joe choked, gasping for air, pulling his knees to his chin.

"Who's coming?" Levon asked, fear was rising in his belly that a man, whoever he was, could instill this much fear in this macho detective.

"I... I could always feel his presence. Even when he was twenty miles up... Damn! Things are going so good here. Why? Why is he coming now?" Joe lamented, burying his head in his hands.

"Joey?" Levon said softly, a tinge of fear in his voice, tenderly moving his hand down his lover's spine.

LaFiamma looked up and turned to the voice next to him. Staring at the blond for several seconds, he realized it was not a dream... that Lundy was indeed there. "I'm sorry, Levon, you have no idea what I'm talking about do you? God, I love you so much," Joey sobbed, pulling his blond lover in for a quick kiss and then releasing him. "Don't want anything to spoil what we have."

"Nothing is going to spoil what we have," Lundy replied softly, shaking his head, taking two fingers and gently swiping at the sweat dripping off the Italian's perfect nose. "Can't you tell me what it is? Maybe I can help?"

"Mem... memory must've been triggered... when you discovered that tattoo on my cock last night. I've... I've pushed out of my mind how I got that. Don't want to think about it. I... I was in a special unit... covert operations... in the Marines ... a sharpshooter... a translator in eight languages...a... a stud!" Shamed by the last word, LaFiamma hung his head, refusing to look at his lover. Finally he turned, looking at his cowboy lover, his detective partner, Joe didn't know whether to continue or not. He knew one thing, if he didn't tell someone, it would fester a hole right through his gut.

"You speak *eight* languages!" Levon gasped, awed by this revelation. _[Joe's right, I really don't know much about him.]_ "What do you mean a stud? Is that some kind of code name?" Lundy asked, hanging on very word.

"A STUD! A FUCKING STUD! A...WHORE!" Joe screeched, pulling away from his lover. "I could bring a man to ecstasy beyond his wildest dreams. Make him lose consciousness, or torture him with my tongue... my cock without my body even touching him... until he literally begged to be put out of his misery."

"You... you were used for sex?" Lundy questioned in disbelief not believing his hot-tempered partner would allow that to happen to him.

"You don't understand, Lundy. I liked... having that kind of power over a man! And men fought over the privilege of sleeping with me. When we went out on a mission, my sergeant would inform me who was the lucky man this time out. It all started after I made some off-handed comment about taking a guy to bed and really straightening out his attitude. After that, those that wanted that chance drew lots for that privilege."

"Who's the man... that's coming?" Levon asked again, not at all sure he wanted to know.

"Our CO... commanding officer, Colonel George Washington Smith. We did covert forays. I was in charge of one of his units. He was divorced, and crazed for sex. Kinky sex. Painful. When a new man was rotated in, he would ask him into his office for a conference. If the guy came out white faced and shaking, we knew the Old Man had fucked his ass, and was going to be using him for the next week or month. We all could breathe easy for a while ... cause we knew we were off the hook."

Joey stopped abruptly, swallowing back a memory that would be etched in his mind forever. "The Old Man never once called me into his office, not until I'd been under his command for a year. It was when we came back from a tricky operation in the Middle East, that his personal valet came to my quarters to get me. Told me the Old Man wanted to congratulate me on a job well done. When I walked into his office, he stood up... and his cock was so hard... it looked like he had an arm trying push out through his zipper."

Levon studied his lover. He knew Joe was confiding things in him he wasn't suppose to know, yet he could see his lover visibly relax as the words gushed out, almost uncontrollably.

"He came around the desk, and told me he wanted me. As if I couldn't see that already. Told me he had wanted me for a long time. That he didn't want to have me the way he ... the way he used his other lovers... though they weren't lovers.. just asses he could use to relieve himself in," Joe growled angrily, remembering a couple of horror stories friends had confided to him.

Levon watched as that sly half smirk began to spread across the Italian's face.

"I boldly walked up to the S.O.B. Took his chin in my hand, tilted his head, and planted a kiss.. long and deep on his cigarette saturated lips. He sagged backwards onto his desk. His erection was so hot; it exploded on the spot. I stepped back and looked at him. Told him if he wanted me, he'd have to give up smoking that day. That it would never happen in his office, but only at his house. Those were my terms; he could take 'em or leave 'em. Then I turned and walked out of his office."

Levon's mouth opened, and closed, not knowing what to say. Realizing though, that the terms must have been met or Joe wouldn't be sitting on the bed with him now.

"You love me less?" Joe finally asked, as the silence between them seemed to stretch into an eternity.

"If anything... I love you more," Levon finally ventured. "Love you for sharing a part of your life that has been closed off for so long. Love you because I know exactly how that man felt to have been kissed by you and not been able to control his cock because of it."

"He... he sent me orders in Chicago... couple years before I came down here. I said I didn't want to go, was working on an important homicide case. The Marine who delivered the message gave me two choices... report at 0900 hours for a flight to Quanto or be taken in shackles to the Federal Building and be shot."

"SHOT!! They can do that?" Levon squawked his voice cracking.

"Hell yes...! Smith knew I was proud of what I did in the Corps even though I haven't been able to tell anyone what I did. He knew I wouldn't blemish that record."

"When I arrived at the airport I discovered he and I were the only passengers on the transport. DAMN IT, Lundy! He put me on active duty for one week just because he wanted sex... from me! He wanted me so bad; he crawled around the inside of the airplane on his hands and knees waving his naked ass in my face. That's when I realized what a potent weapon I had... what I potent weapon I was! That's when I understood why some of my mates actually came to blows to see who was going to sleep with me when we were out on a mission."

Joe stopped abruptly, not sure he should continue. Not sure he should be telling his partner the fucking truth about himself. Yet he wanted to get it out. Wanted it clean between them.

"God, Levon, you are so wonderful. I don't deserve you, I really don't." Joey replied, planting a short kiss on eager Texas lips.

"I could say the same thing, Chicago. I'm just a Texas cowboy you pulled out of the gutter, wallowing in despair of a dead wife he couldn't let go of, wandering gay bars just 'cause he didn't want to wake up alone."

Smiling, Joe continued, confident he was safe with his lover no matter what went down. "The last day... the guys started arriving... every man I'd ever given pleasure to while in the Corps... or had tortured..."

"Tortured?" Levon asked, his jaw dropping open, not understanding what his lover meant.

"Tortured! It was a game we played. It started on a mission in South America when my recon team discovered the tattoo. The discovery of the tattoo started the nightmares again. Sometimes I could push them out of my mind, but other times ... especially after the discovery of it... after it was fingered... sucked... I'd find a spot to sleep by myself, because I knew the dreams would come that night. Just as they did tonight."

"The game -- strip a man in front of the others ... lick him ... kiss him ... until he is so hard he had no skin left to close his eyes. Then walk away... leave him standing there so full of passion he couldn't move. If he started to sag, we'd lash him to something to keep him upright. It... It was then... when I got so hard... like last night... harder than hard, that the sword's finer details are revealed... they... didn't believe how I got it... each one wanted a taste of it... and hell, I let 'em."

Joe stopped, lowing his head; ashamed of what he was saying, revealing about a life he had chosen to block out.

"The nightmares started.... Started after I got back from a mission... a mission where I was captive for ten days. We were escorting the president's wife and kids in Lebanon. Got separated... Got detained... I used force to get them and my men out, but in the process, I got captured. They... beat me. Kicked me... every aggression they had against Americans they took out on me. The... the dream... I wake up and have a snake coiled on my chest... my captors wanted to see just how strong American Marines were." Joey swallowed, leaning his head against his lover's shoulder, relishing the embrace that it brought.

"I was handcuffed to the floor. Hands... feet...they were simulating my genitals...if I moved. The snake..."

"It's okay, Joey, I'm here," Levon replied softly, pulling his shivering partner to his chest. "They aren't going to hurt you any more."

"They stuck four needles into my cock at the same time. The scream came out of my toes, man. They laughed big time. Don't know what happened to the snake. Didn't attack me. One of them came in waving a piece of paper, showing it to everyone, then knelt down and asked me if it was the Marine sword. When I nodded yes, the needle work continued. God... Levon, I've been shot, stab... beaten... nothing prepared me for the pain of... I mean... I got cousins who have tattoos ... they never said it hurt."

"Partner, the penis is the most sensitive part of a man's body." Levon offered tenderly, pulling up the sweat-laden sheet to wipe off his lover's face.

"When it was over... they left me there... naked... handcuffed to the floor. One or two would come back to check on me... urinate on me... check the cock to make sure it was healing. When they finally came and took me back to my cell, I swore at them in Lebanese." A half smile crossed Joey's face. "They were shocked... that I knew their language... that I might have understood what they were doing... I didn't. I only knew a few words. Mostly how to swear. But they never talked in my presence after that. Only English. I lost track of time... only three small windows at the top of the wall next to the ceiling, no light bulb... yet something blinked on and off all the time. Couldn't sleep. They'd interrogate me for hours... slap me, knock me around. It got so my body was numb, I wasn't reacting. Wasn't feeling.'

"How'd.. you get out?" Levon asked his voice tight with anger toward Joe's captors.

"One of my recon teams... bought some information... got a couple of chopper pilots... and went out on their own... they found me half-naked in an unlocked cell... couldn't find my pulse, but didn't want to leave me. Put me into a body bag and carried me to the chopper."

"A body bag!?"

"In case you haven't been to the Middle East, it is hot there. I mean hot! Open-air choppers are cold. I opened my eyes and couldn't see anything. Figured they had put me in some kind of hole. But it was cold. I pulled my knees to my chin to ward off the chill and started sneezing. Guess I scared the shit out of my Marines. Next thing I knew... I had four men hovering over me. Dressing me ... wrapping me in blankets ... bandaging my ankles ... wrists. I heard the pilots shouting over their mikes, 'HE'S ALIVE! HE'S ALIVE!' It took me a minute to realize they were talking about me. I about went ballistic when one pulled out an IV needle, almost pushed him out the open door. In sick bay, on the carrier... I was questioned about the sores on my cock. The swelling. I told them as much as I could remember. You're right, it is a beautiful piece of work... but I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Except for the doctors on that carrier, and you.. no one knows how I got it. Maybe it's in my confidential file... my men... never believed...."

"My men figured I was some awesome dude to have a tattooed penis. But when I look at it... all I remember is being cuffed to a cement floor begging them to stop. Which is why, partner... I have always struggled to be on top... so you can't see it. Why I use my hands to guide it into you. Why I insist on the lights being out when you suck it."

"Like I said before the CO got wind of the torture game. He called me into his office and questioned me about it. Told me he wanted to see a performance, but that he would pick out a 'victim.' He liked what he saw. Liked it a lot. Told those that he considered his 'men' to be on the alert. He was going to start having his own game... picking out his own victim... and every one who had already been a victim was expected to participate. So whenever he got the hankering for more excitement than just fucking one of us, Smith would send his personal valet to the barracks. Carrot-Top would walk around looking from a picture in his hand to the men that were there. When he found who he was looking for, he would walk up to the man, smile and say, 'you're IT at the game tonight.' No matter if we had duty. No matter if we had a date. We had to call and say that Colonel Smith had just notified us that we had to report to him for special duty. We had no choice. I know only a couple of guys who refused. They had orders the next day, shipping them out. No one heard from them again. It was a blatant lesson for all of us of just how powerful this man was. I would always have to be there early... because he got so hot thinking about it. I'd have to work him off before the show. After the show... the victim and I would have to stay. He... he'd suck off my cock. His precious sword he called it. The victim... oh god, this man is sick, Lundy... the victim had two choices, if you call it that, and he had to make up his mind in a split second. Hump the Old Man, or let the Old Man ride him... if he waited too long to make up his mind. Smith would grab him by the ankles and ask to see his butt."

"Oh god, Joe. It sounds to me, more like you were the one being tortured not them." Levon said pulling his lover into his arms, running his hands through Joe's soft brown hair.

Pushing himself back into a sitting position, Joe continued, "At dinner time that last day at Quanto, some of the men who had been in my squad showed up. They were grinning like Cheshire cats all expecting me to do something, not realizing that what went down before was no longer part of my life. I wanted to forget those orgies we had. I asked the Old Man... what the hell was going on? Why were they there? What kind of game he was playing? I watched the men's faces go blank, obviously he had told them something entirely different. Probably that I was in town and wanted to play, and won't it be great to surprise me and have an old time splash. "

"I lost my cool, Levon. He could have strapped me in irons and hauled me away, but he didn't. I started ranting at the Old Man, asking why he had forced me back to active duty for one damn week. Why he was turning me into a whore, when he was the one who was one, not me? Next thing I remembered, four of my old mates were holding me back, standing in my face, apologizing. They'd been told I was back on active duty and had only a few hours layover. Evidently, they all jumped at a chance to lay with me again."

"Oh god, Levon... if that's what he wants... I can't go through that again. I just can't. I'd sooner be shot." Joey croaked, burying his head in his lover's shoulder.

[][][][][]

 

 

  
_Everything on this page is fiction. Any resemblance or reference to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental._


	2. LaFiamma? - A Marine? - Part 2

Part Two

The next day, LaFiamma dropped the manila folder on his desk, pushed his chair back and stood up. "Where we going for lunch today, Lundy? Please, not Chicken's. After what went down last night, my stomach just can't take grease today."

"Captain...! LaFiamma!" A strong, sharp, bass voice barked from behind him. Lundy watched all the color drain from his partner's face.

Joe's chin, head jerked upward, shock spread across his face, wide-eyed he sent a plead to his partner across his desk, though he knew from this point on the man behind him was going to be in control of everything that went down in this room.

Putting his toe behind his heel Joe did a sharp military turn and came face to face with his former commanding officer. "SIR!" Joe answered sharply, staring in disbelief at his Colonel, who he noticed now had the rank of Brigadier General. He came to attention, then went into military parade rest. He did not salute the man.

Levon stood up as his partner turned. It took every fiber in his body to keep the thoughts in his head from spilling out.  _[My god, that man is black! He's black!. How could Joe touch... let alone k-kiss him!]_

Around the room, those who knew LaFiamma could tell from the way he answered 'Sir', that this man was not necessarily a friend. Joey heard gasped whispers as he turned, "LaFiamma? A Marine? A Captain?!" Within minutes those whispers spread with the speed of a fire in the Everglades throughout the whole building. Slowly curious officers began to migrate up to the Major Crimes Division hallway, straining to hear the conversation inside.

"You're looking good, LaFiamma. Not all your Rangers are as fit as you are." General Smith, declared, the harshness of his voice toned down a bit, taking in every nod, every whisper going on around them. "What...? These rednecks don't know that you're a Marine!?"

"No, Sir! They do *now,* SIR." Joe answered tightly, his jaw tense, eyes straight-ahead, not wanting to look at the officers around him. "I'm just a street kid from Chicago to them, Sir."

"A street kid from Chicago?" The bald black man replied laughing. "God, I wish I had had a hundred Chicago street kids... if they were all as good as you were." The older man chortled, his gray-green eyes staring holes into the blue eyes he loved.

"Why don't they know, Captain!?" The black man challenged sternly, his eyes traveling from Joe's face to his chest and up again.

"YOU ... SI-IR... said that if you can't explain what you did..., best they not know you were in!" The Chicagoan shot back, he was not going to back down this time, even if it meant Lundy would be planning his funeral.

"I did say that, didn't I?" The Brigadier replied, his voice gentler, his eyes not wavering from the intensely angry eyes flashing back at him.  _[Son, don't you know I love you?]_

"Yes, Sir... on more than one occasion, SIR," Joe shot back.  _[What the hell is his game?]_

"They don't know you were .... a paratrooper... covert ope....?"

"Sir!" Joey cut in curtly, "what is the purpose of your visit here?" The Detective asked, anxious to get to whatever was coming.  _[Hell, I hoped this milk chocolate man would be old and ugly by now. Damned if I can't feel that shiny, black, bald head of his rubbing up against my balls.]_

As if reading his Captain's thoughts General Smith retorted, "Damned if you aren't even more handsome than you were the day you stepped onto that bus in Chicago heading for OCS." A smile crept across the Old Man's face as he watched Joe's face change. (note: OCS - Officer's Candidate School)

"Sir?" LaFiamma choked, his jaw dropping open.  _[What the hell IS his game? Mad one minute. Loving the next. Lundy, help me. Before I fuck his chocolate butt right here in front of everyone.]_

"You were a damn good officer, LaFiamma. You got your men through some real hellholes. You want to tell me, why you didn't re-enlist? That's why you went back to Chicago on leave, is it not? " Smith questioned, he had wondered for years if he had done something to make the man want to leave the Corps.

"No sir!" Joe answered empathetically, "Re-enlisting was never part of my plans."  _[Shii-iit! We get any more blue uniforms out in the hall, there won't be any left on the street.]_

General Smith raised a uniformed arm, gesturing to those around the room, "Being here... part of your plan?"

"No, Sir! Being in Texas was not part of my plan!" Joe returned, coldly, his jaw tight again, teeth clenched.  _[Neither was sucking your cock off for the rest of my military career.]_

Smiling, Joe's former lover decided it was time to let the young man know just why he was here. "I have a mission for you Captain, and you are the only one who can do it."

"Sir, I'm not in the Reserves. I cannot be...." Joe started, gesturing with his hands to the surroundings. "I refuse, Sir!" Joe replied sharply, surprising even himself with the sharpness of his tone as he brought himself to attention. "After the options you gave me in Chicago, Sir... I believe I'll take the bullet in the head in this time."

Joanne Beaumont, who had come out of her office and was standing with Levon, Carol and Estaban, gasped at Joe's words. There was no way one of her best officers was going to be shot.

"SHOT! What the hell are you talking about!? You were presented with a package in Chicago, Captain! You had your choice to come, or to stay. You chose to come!" the General spit back angrily, his eyes bulging, his nose flared wide open, he rose up on his toes for a second like a hawk hovering over his prey before returning to his stance opposite his Captain, his lover.

"I received no package, SIR! Two Marines walked into my Chicago precinct. Told me I had to be at a gate, on a flight, at 0900... if I was not there, I would be picked up at the precinct, put into shackles, taken to the Federal Building and shot!! At the time, Sir...," Joey growled, his eyes not wavering from the face opposite him, "I took the first option... however, today, Sir..., I may take the second." The words were spat out in hot, angry tones, into the baby-faced countenance of his former Colonel.  _[Shit, he pinches his fingers together like that one more time, my cock's going to spring into action begging to be tweaked.]_

The color of Joe's blue eyes intensified and bore into his ex-lover's face. "I will * **not** * go through what happened on that flight to Quanto again - Sir! Nor any of the things that happened after I got there. I refuse to be a party to that... Sir!" Joey voice was firm, tight, only Levon heard the slight quiver it had towards the end. His partner was standing his ground, whatever came, came.

"GERALD!!" the Old Man bellowed, abruptly turning to look at the man behind him, horrified that Joseph had no idea why he had been called out of Chicago that week. "What happened to the package we put together for Captain LaFiamma!?"

Catching a glimpse of Gerald for the first time, Joe was surprised to see the company clerk was still with their Colonel.  _[Damned if he doesn't still have that mop of curly red hair, and freckles. He must have stood on his tiptoes to get in on the height requirement.]_

"Chi... Chicago was in the middle of a big recruitment push. Said... they couldn't send a courier to pick up the package, but said they would get a message to LaFiamma." Gerald stammered, giving Joe an unconscious nod.

"Yeah!" the Colonel growled, his nostrils flaring again, "They sure gave him a message, didn't they? A wrong message! I want to know what happened to the package."

"I believe it was shredded, Sir," Joe replied quietly. "They told me I could pick up another set of orders on the plane, and they would shred the package addressed to me when it arrived."

Joe watched the lines of anger begin to set on his Colonel's face, never had he seen his Colonel so angry. General Smith raised his hands and brought them together in a clap so loud it echoed down the hall. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS MAN'S CORPS TODAY!"

Joey fell back a step not knowing what to expect next, and backed right into Lundy, whom he didn't even know was behind him. Levon's light touch on his back told him volumes.

"That package contained a letter signed by the President to you! A promotion to Major, because of your success in Beirut... and a hell of a lot of personal things put together by your squad that cannot be replaced," the black man snarled.

"Sir," Joe offered softly, nodding his head forward, "could we talk elsewhere?"

"No, we can't talk elsewhere! You know better than to ask me that! If I had wanted to talk elsewhere I would have said so when I walked in here!" Smith stopped his barrage of words and took a few seconds for his anger to cool.

"I'm not recalling you, son," the man's voice was gentle now. "Not like I did in Chicago. I apologize for that. I had no idea you didn't know what was coming down for that week. I understand now... why you were so pissed off."

LaFiamma blinked, gawking at the man. His Colonel never ever apologized to anyone, anywhere, and if he did, it certainly wasn't to an underling.

"I'm... dying, Joseph. Cancer... and a bunch of other things I can't pronounce. I need you to do something... and you are the only one who can do it. They will ignore Gerald if he calls. They would hang up on me, if I call. But you... they will swim the oceans, walk through fire...they'll come if you ask them to... they will come for you. " The voice tender, the words were a plea.

_[He's dying? He can't die! He can't! Not till I tell him how much I hate his guts... love him. How much he meant to... means to me. Oh, Levon, how will I ever explain to you what this man means to me.]_

"Gerald, got that folder?" Smith asked over his shoulder, everyone watched intently as Gerald opened up a briefcase and took out a manila folder marked, "TOP SECRET ... CONFIDENTIAL RECORDS."

Joe felt like he was in a cocoon. People, cops, were around him, in the offices, standing in the hallway, yet he felt like he was alone, hanging off a chopper skid and losing his grip fast. He could hear Lieutenant Beaumont saying something about the folder, yet it seemed miles again. His whole being was geared to his Colonel touching him, caressing him. His loyalties should be with Levon. But under the General's uniform, he knew there was a tight muscled body like his own. Is it allowed? Could he have two lovers? It was Levon's touch of his elbow that burst his claustrophobic state. He choked as he breathed in Levon's aftershave.

"Wha?" Joey gasped, turning his head to look at the cowboy who was quietly asking him if he was all right.

"You all right, son?" the Colonel quizzed frowning. "One of these days you're going to pass out doing that."

"So long as someone is around to pick me up, Sir," Joey retorted, relaxing a bit now that he knew he wasn't going to have to 'perform' for the man. At least not today.

"You asked about this folder, ma'am," General Smith said, nodding to Beaumont, "it was put together by the Pentagon at my request. I do not, at the present time, nor does Gerald have the security clearance to read what is inside. However, LaFiamma does. He speaks eight languages, and has a number of skills the Marines would like to call on more often than they do. His security clearance is intact, and will stay activated until such time as the Marine Corps chooses to reduce it.'

A grin spread across the black face showing prefect snow-white teeth. Joe didn't like that mischievous look he saw coming into the Old Man's eyes. "This man was the best S.T.U.D. I ever had. One hell of a good man!" The Old Man groused looking into the startled blue eyes in front of him.

Laughter broke out in the hall. "You got that right, General! LaFiamma is one hell of a stud. The women love him."

Joe's face turned to stone, his teeth tight together. His blue eyes began to change to a hazel blue-green as his anger grew filling every pore. If he thought he could have gotten away with it, he would have punched the man out.

The black man, taller by a couple of inches, about forty pounds heavier stepped forward, and laid his hands on Joe's shoulder. Levon watched his partner's whole body go rigid.

The laughter died down when the General began speaking.

"S ... Steadfast. When you were on a mission, Joseph, nothing, but nothing distracted you. Not even that woman in Italy who did a striptease trying to entrap you."

_[Yeah, I found her later and fucked her brains out. She said I was the best Italian man she'd known.]_

"T ... Tenacious. You are the only Marine in my command that ever told me where to go, to get off and got away with it."

_[Yeah, black man, get your fucking cock out of my mouth!]_

"U ... Undaunting. I can count on one hand, son, the things I've seen you back away from. "

_[Being whipped was definitely one of them.]_

"D ... Driven. You drove yourself, and your men beyond their limitations. When they discovered they could do it, you drove them harder."

_[ Pushed them to go without food for three days. Fixed them up with ladies when we got home.]_

"I want your S.T.U.D.S, Captain. Those Rangers you took to Beirut and South America. I want them here... in Houston ...by Friday."

"LaFiamma had missions in Beirut? South America?" Whispered Carol "Legs" O'Brien to Sergeant Estaban Gutierrez.

It was a statement Joe knew he couldn't protest, yet he tried. "Colonel!.. that's only four days away." Joe blurted out, interrupting his commander.

Ignoring his Captain the black general continued, "This folder, contains the last known addresses and numbers of each and every one of them. Some are still in the Corps, some are not. One of them has taken your game beyond its goal... to death."

"Death?!" Joey choked on the word, his head tilting forward to within inches of a perfect sharp pointed nose in front of him.

"I want this man's game stopped, Joseph. You are the only one - who can stop him." The Old Man lifted his hands off Joe's shoulders and stepped back.

"Wh... why now?" Joey questioned, not understanding.  _[Who the hell would take that game to the death?]_

"General Swietoniowski is in town and so is Judge Susan Riley."

"Betty Sue's mother...the JAG? She should be a grandmother by now."

"If she had a daughter to give her some."

"Betty Sue died!? Paddock? Was it Paddock?" Joey gasped, breaking his stance, doing a complete turn like a ballerina, raising his hand above his head, he ranted some very ugly Italian words which he was glad no one could understand.

Lundy and others in the squad room watched a complete change come over the Chicagoan. LaFiamma went from a detective upset at being confronted to an irate Marine knowing an injustice had been done, and he was the one who could rectify it.

"Why is General Swietoniowski in town? Please, don't tell me Paddock took on David..." Joey watched his Colonel nod yes. "Shit! SHIT! SHIT!" LaFiamma shouted, at the top of his lungs, his anger so intense those around him stepped back. "You want me on temporary active duty, General? Get the paperwork together. I want that bastard. I will personally castrate him myself!"

"All the information you need is in here, Joseph. Including what's to be done if I die before you get it together. Also some 'need to know' information about me. Your... dress blues... your Alphas... still fit...?" His voice trailed off, remembering how sharp his Captain looked in dress blues. He wanted more that anything to hold Joseph Anthony LaFiamma in his arms, tell him he was sorry for pulling him out of Chicago, and of so many other things.

"Don't know about the blues, I'll have to get them out and see," Joe replied, dropping the 'Sir.' Joe looked deep into the Old Man's eyes, and saw remorse, not sex, but real love... and... death. He watched as Smith turned and walked with Gerald through the crowd in the hall to the elevators.

Joe heard his name murmured among the cops in the hall, and looked up to see Estaban and Joe-Bill in an animated conversation with them.  _[Great! Everything said here would be out to every car on the road in minutes. Oh, well, about time they knew I was more than just a street kid.]_  Joe looked momentarily at the cowboy, then pushed his way through the cops. As he glanced toward the elevator he realized he didn't have to hurry, Gerry was holding the elevator, and would be outside the door until he was done.

"You don't have to be here, son," the Old Man said, as Joe stepped into the elevator, waited for the door to close, and then pushed STOP. Smith realized now, how many times he had insisted his Captain be in his bed when Joe obviously had other plans.

"You want me to leave?" Joe asked somewhat surprised.

"You know I don't." The older man replied softly, "I've loved you for so long, Joseph. Worried so about you. I even take the Houston paper so I can keep track of you. You and your partner have quite a success record. "

"I liked lying in your bed, Smitty," Joey answered, knowing now that he was speaking the truth, that in spite of his relationship with his partner, he was also in love with this man and always would be.

"But there were times... your demands... it was what you wanted... what you said you needed. And I liked my duty at Quanto. I... felt if I refused... I'd end up on some remote tour for the rest of my hitch. I would love to... make love to you, Sir. Totally free of any commitments."

Joey hang his head to the floor, silently getting the courage to tell his colonel the rest. A touch on his hand, brought the head up. Swallowing he continued, "The reason I... did not re-enlist... was because... because..." the words faltered, died in his throat.

The words came to Smith like a neon sign flashing at midnight. "You didn't want to be a cock sucker, a whore... for me or anyone else."  _[Those were the words you shouted at me. Those were the words that tore my heart apart.]_

"Yes, sir," Joe answered in a barely audible whisper.

"Ohhh, Joseph! Can you ever forgive me?!" General Smith lamented, pulling his former Captain, his lover into his arms. "Please, forgive me. Just forgive me."

They stood together crying for several minutes, then Joe tilted the man's chin as he did the first day they met. The kiss was gentle and sweet. It brought back a rush of memories, but no nightmares.

"I want you again," Joey rasped, "this time in love. We're too much alike. A black trying to make good in the Corps, and a Mafia kid wanting to be a cop. Lundy will never understand... but I need to have you again, Smitty. I do."

"You old bastard, you're not suppose to die yet," Joe said tenderly, stepping away, his hand lingering on the man's cheek.

Joe pushed the button, the door opened and Gerald stepped in. Curious cops peered in to see what was going on.

"We're at the Airport Marriott, Presidential Suite, sixth floor. I want a report tonight as to the progress of your calling. Paddock's gone too far this time. Killing one, and maiming another."

Joe turned and came face to face with Lundy who was standing sideways behind him holding open the elevator door. As an afterthought, Joe turned back to the Colonel, his lover, and saluted him, and said, "The game will stop, Sir."

The black returned the salute as the elevator doors closed.

The detective... the Marine... the displaced Chicagoan stood staring at the closed elevator for a long time. He had a million things going through his mind and he had to get them organized, but first he needed to get some time off.

"You all right, LaFiamma?" His partner finally asked, worry in his voice.

Turning to face his blond lover, a smile spreading across his face, Joe lightly touched the cowboy's arm, "Yeah, partner, I'm okay."

Walking back into the bullpen, LaFiamma saw Beaumont and the Division Captain talking in her office, ambling to the door, he gently knocked and was ushered in. They listened while he asked for ten days off and Joe was totally surprised that it was granted on the spot. Not only granted, but he was told he could use whatever phones or computers the department had to contact anyone in his file.

When he was asked to sit, he said he preferred to stand. When he was told he'd been standing for over an hour, he sat. What happened in the next thirty minutes totally blew him away. He walked out of Joanne's office in a daze.

_[The Captain's retiring because of stomach ulcers. The Major Crimes Division is being restructured. Joanne is being promoted but will still be in charge. They are putting lieutenants out on the street ... and I'm the first one. I AM THE FIRST ONE! ME! What did Captain Mullin's say - because *I* was a Marine, he knew I could handle the job.]_

He actually found himself glad this fiasco with the Old Man was happening. It would keep his mind occupied from spilling his promotion to his partner. He wasn't sure how his partner would react, him being the second of Lundy's partners promoted to lieutenant. Joe knew just from the nod of those around him that his status here had changed. He would never again be called a street kid from Chicago. Spotting Lundy, he asked if he wanted to go to lunch.

Lundy walked in silence to the elevator but started questioning his lover as soon as the door closed. "This where you fucked him?" the cowboy suddenly growled, needing to know if his lover was still faithful to him.

"Lundy, I did not fuck him! What is wrong with you?" Joe asked, sadly shaking his head, turning to check the number and how close they were to the lobby.

"I want to know what you did behind the closed door for so long, and why that Gerald had to stand guard so you weren't disturbed!" the blond detective demanded, his brown eyes green with jealousy.

"You want to know what I did in here with the man that helped shape my life? This morning you said nothing would come between us... changed your mind already, have you!?" LaFiamma growled angrily.

"I kissed the man! I kissed him long and good. He was my lover. I was his!" Joe spat the words out sharp and blunt straight into the blond's face. Just as they reached the Lobby, Joe pushed the STOP button, grabbed his partner's shoulders and shoved the blond against the wall and kissed him, his tongue probing deep into the throat.

The blond bucked against him gasping. Using his knee, LaFiamma rode it up and down along the raise in Levon's jeans, until the smell of semen filled the elevator. Releasing the mouth he had attacked, Joe growled, "I only kissed him. You..., I brought to climax. You are mine, cowboy! Mine!" Joe growled into the cowboy's ear. "And don't you forget it."

LaFiamma stepped back and watched his partner slide down the wall to the floor. Turning he pushed the button to open the door, as the doors opened, he pushed number six and seven. Not allowing anyone waiting to get into the car.

"Hey, wait a minute, LaFiamma... Lundy's on the .... What'd you do to him?" Several officers in blue asked.

"He made a pass at me," Joe shot back over his shoulder as he walked into the police garage.

"Hey, Ruben, got a car for me?" He was surprised when he was offered two of the slickest cars around.

"How come you're giving me these?" He asked dumbfounded, he was always offered junk-a-wrecks before.

"Heroes deserved better cars," the mechanic said with a grin.

"Yeah, well, this hero wants to remain in the background. I'll take that one," the newly discovered Marine said, pointing to a tan Acclaim.

"Hell, LaFiamma, it's past that. What went on upstairs is half way around the world by now."

"God, I hope not," Joe gasped, as he caught the keys that were tossed to him.  _[There are some people I don't want to hear from.]_

All the way to his apartment, LaFiamma was very aware of the folder next to him on the seat. In a matter of minutes his world was turned upside down. Yet not completely. He was getting a promotion because of it, and cops that were usually putting money into a pot for a ticket back to Chicago were actually speaking to him.  _[And wait until they see this Marine kick butt.]_  The thought brought a smile a yard wide to his face.

[][][][][]

Going through his storage closet, Joey pulled out a large plastic suit bag. Carefully unzipping it, he opened it up and stared at his dress blues "Alphas" and "Charlies" inside. Reaching inside, he cautiously lifted the uniforms out, being careful not to tangle the sword and mourning band with it. Then he walked into the laundry room off the kitchen. Laying his white gloves, white hat, and shoes on the washer, he hung the blues so they could air out. Returning to the plastic bag, he yanked out his combat fatigues, lace boots, and olive-drab officer's uniform. "Damn! Never thought I'd be wearing these again in my life time."

[][][][][]

Lundy was just getting his legs under him when the elevator came to an abrupt halt, knocking him off his feet, back to the floor. He staggered back to his feet just as the doors opened. Scully, and a couple of the computer girls rushed in to help him. Levon brushed them away, shouted at them, told them to mind their own business.

Scully asked the women to take another elevator and they heartily agreed. "What happened to your lip, Levon? It's all swollen."

"Nothin'!" Levon moaned, his tongue licking the bite, tasting his lover's mouth on his lip. Levon realized he'd made a rash error in judgment with his partner. Vaguely remembering what Joe said when he got off the elevator, the cowboy replied, "I made a pass at LaFiamma."

"YOU... You made a pass at LaFiamma!? Are you nuts, Levon? Damn, you're lucky you're alive... you know what kind of missions your partner did in the Marines?" Scully said excitedly, planning to use what happened today to boost relations with the Department and the City.

"All I could think about was him in one of those blue uniforms. Those ones with the sword. Damn, he's the best looking man I've ever seen," Levon moaned, allowing Scully to help him to his feet.

"Levon, are you saying what I think you're saying?" The pumpish, public relations man asked. "Lundy, it's not healthy to be in love with a man in this day and age."

[][][][][]

Joey opened the Top Secret folder and began to page through the papers. He was surprised to find that the nine he would call upon lived within a two-hour flight from Houston. What took his breath away was the white envelope marked, 'The Last Will and Testament of George Washington Smith, Brigadier General.' Joe stared, and decided he'd better have a beer before he opened it.

The empty beer bottle sat on his kitchen counter and still he stared at the envelope. "What the hell, got to open it some time, might as well be now."

It was a simple will really, compared to some samples he'd seen back in law school. "Damn!" Joey exclaimed, "he's leaving me his entire estate. There's got to be a caught. Knowing him, there has got to be a catch."

Paging through the document, LaFiamma discovered there was indeed a big catch. "FUCK YOU!" He yelled. "Be an instructor at Quanto, two weeks out of every year! For what, some measly bucks that he stashed away over the .... Ohmygod.... four million dollars!" Joey staggered backwards, hit the wall telephone and slid to the floor.

"God, Smitty. You love me this much?" Tears rolled down Captain LaFiamma's face, his eyes closing thinking about the bad times, and some damn good times this man and he had together. Suddenly, it came to him. He couldn't be pulled into the reserves or put on active duty because he would be an instructor teaching troops. Springing to his feet in one leap, Joey laughed, "You old fossil! You said you'd take care of me... and hell if you haven't!"

"Guess I'd better get started calling, or that old fossil will have cause to strip my hide tonight. Let's start with Warsaw, he lives the farthest," Joe sighed, taking the list of names, reaching for the phone behind him.

Two o'clock in the afternoon, in a Minneapolis suburb, the phone rang. A pleasant, but frustrated woman answered the phone, and Joe asked if he could speak to Jonathan. "Well, ma'am, tell him Captain LaFiamma is on the phone, and to get his butt to it on the double!" Seconds later, Joe was laughing and speaking Polish, and explaining his call. "Guess you'll just have to tell your wife you had a change of heart, and you'd be glad to go to Houston with her to visit her parents. You need to be here by Friday, Pollock. Alphas & Charlies both.. "

"Me? I just got promoted to lieutenant for the Houston Police Department." Joey answered, giving his sergeant his home number and Smith's private hotel number. "Warsaw... when you get in... call Smith and let Gerald know where you are. Yeah, believe it or not, Carrot Top is still with him."

Hanging up the phone, LaFiamma remembered his first meeting with Jon, had figured he was French, certainly not Polish. Married with three kids, man.

And so the calls continued...to Georgia for - Cardinal... the bird man... the whistler ...the point man.. the one who could out eat us all, and Periwinkle... we never did figure out what he was using on his uniforms to keep them from wrinkling.

To New Orleans to spring Renegade out of jail. When was that biker going to learn to keep his big mouth shut. An added call to NOPD and the Military Police.  _[Good thing I am a lieutenant now, they wouldn't have taken those words from a sergeant.]_

Hawk... in San Diego, two hours before going on leave. He didn't want to go to Hawaii anyway.  _[Sure, right. Best set of eyes I've ever worked with, would love to get him here.]_

Mum ... in Austin, visiting his sister. Called his C.O. to explain why he was going to be late, he wasn't going AWOL, anything but!

Staring at the paper work, Joey was mulling over whom to call next. He jumped as the phone behind him began to ring. "LaFiamma. Yea, Gerald... what's wrong? He okay?" Joey quizzed concern in his voice. The Italian listened as Gerry explained that the General wanted Joe there by seven for a meeting with him and Major General Swietnowoski. That the package sent to him in Chicago had been found and was being sent by special courier.

Thinking of Lundy as he hung up the phone, Joe began worrying about what he did in the elevator, and began to make some phone calls to track his partner down.

 _[Not at Reisner, Dispatch can't raise him, no answer at the ranch. Damn, partner where are you? Got no time for games.]_  Walking into the living room, Joey looked out the window and saw the red Jimmy parked on the street, but Lundy wasn't in it.

_[You're a big boy, Levon, I can't worry about you right now. Got other priorities. If Paddock goes berserk while in Houston, I want the military authority to send him away for good.]_

Thinking about it as he walked back to the kitchen, Joe knew as a cop he couldn't take the man on, but as his superior... he could clean up the sidewalk with the man's butt.

LaFiamma looked one way and then the other as first the phone rang and then there was a knock on the door. Quickly peeking through the security hole in the door, Joe yanked the door open for his partner, then jogged to the phone.

"LaFiamma. Hey ... Hummer, how you doing?" Joe asked joyfully, this Gunnery Sergeant was one of his favorite people. "How'd you know I was calling? Hawk? Long as he doesn't contact Paddock. I want to talk to that man myself."

Grumbling under his breath, Levon walked in, shutting the door behind him. Starting for one of the barstools, the cowboy watched his partner quickly close up the folder on the counter and slide it toward himself. "I ain't gonna look," the Texan mumbled.

LaFiamma eyed his partner as he walked from the door to the barstool. The man's hard-on couldn't be missed unless you were blind. Joe knew his partner, his lover was going to take a back seat here, he just hoped Lundy understood.  _[Hell, I've taken plenty of back seats when Jamie calls because Eric wants to see him.]_

Finishing his call to Hummer, he hung up the phone and walked to his partner. "You want to take care of this," Joey asked huskily, his left hand lightly brushing blond curls out of the cowboy's collar, his right fingers cupping his lover's erection.

"You got time? Or ain't I in your schedule?" Levon growled, grabbing onto the back of the stool as Joe's fingers continued a downward track to his balls. "Ahhhh. Jus... just take me... Joe...fuck me... hard... I want you so bad... so bad."

"You want upstairs, or the floor," Joe whispered into his lover's ear, his Italian tongue tracing the blond's jaw line.

"KKK... kitchen floor," Levon stammered, passion for his lover sweeping away his other mistakes of the day.

[][][][][]

Lying naked on the cold tile floor, Lundy couldn't help to ask, he had to know, "Joe.. the... the... general... is a black man."

"So."

"Were you really his lover? I mean... you kissed him? Put... put your cock inside him?" The words staggered out, he didn't want to ask, but his upbringing forced him to. Sleeping with... just was something you didn't do.

"What are you telling me, Levon?" Joe answered, grasping his cock and pulling it out of the Texan's ass. "You telling me that you're a racist? Huh? You can make it with those Mexicans, Asians from the Pink Cowboys, but not with a black."

"LaFiamma, please," the blond moaned, his ass hot for his lover's cock. "I didn't mean I would love you any less because you did it with him...." Levon didn't know what he meant. "I... learnt as a early age, that... it wasn't right to sleep with those kind of people."

"I want you... only you... please," the cowboy moaned sorrowfully, "please put the sword back in, ple-ease."

Joey obliged, turning the man onto his stomach, the Italian lifted himself over the snow white untanned skin, guiding his cock with one hand to the spincter opening, he thrust in hard and fast. He knew his partner liked it fast, but today Joey did it slooow, agonizingly slow. Until his partner begged, cried for it to be faster. And Captain LaFiamma did as he was told, fucking fast and fierce, skin slapping against skin, until at last the push for release came.

The cowboy withered under him, moaning in pleasure, mumbling words of love.

"I love you too, Levon, but what's going down here... with the Marines.. I have to back away from you for a bit... have a job to do, and I'm the only one who can do it," LaFiamma said pulling back, standing, reaching for paper towel to whip his genitals off.

"But... this mission is just for stopping that ---" Levon started, turning over on his back, the rest of the words caught in his throat as he stared up at the incredible handsome, muscled body of Captain Joseph LaFiamma.  _[God Joey, does that man love you as much as I do?]_

"No, Levon. This mission is to stop a killer that has taken my game too far. This mission is to stop a Marine who uses his ten-inch cock for the pleasure of causing pain to someone else. This mission is stopping Paddock from killing someone else. This guy is as tall as Chicken and a hundred pounds lighter. He's a handsome, light skinned black. He can sweet talk the likes of you into going to bed with him and before you know it ... you're tied face down on a bed, or strung up like a fly in a spider's web. You can yell, and beg, and scream for mercy, all it does is turn him on more," Joey paused, looking at his lover, naïve in so many ways, knowledgeable in others.

"If he touches you, Levon..., ... I'll kill him." It was a statement Levon knew to be true. Knew he would do the same if things were reversed.

Joey jumped as the phone jangled behind him. "LaFiamma. What do you mean Paddock's in town? He was next on my list to call. Yeah... I bet he got the word. Mikey, right? Especially when he found out who was being asked. No, thanks, Gerry, I'll be there before seven. The only one left to call is Wolf. What? He checked in already... that's how he got his name. Carrot Top, one more thing... that site you have up, could you put a coded message out for me. Hang on," Joey said, turning to the folder, quickly leafing through the pages. "Here we are... put this out - Code Red, dash, capital p as in Paul, capital d as in David period. Houston period. Handsome. Then give the coded phone number for your place. Tell the Generals I want to know exactly what they're planning. Right, you take care too."

Levon watched a grin cross his lover's face.  _[Wolf, Paddock, Mikey??]_

Joey hung up the phone and looked around for his clothes. "Damn," he said forgetting for a moment that Levon was present, "bet I have to wear my Charlies."

"Charlies?" Levon asked, grabbing the edge of the kitchen counter for support as he pulled himself to a standing position.

"Charlies? Oh, that refers to a Marine uniform, partner." Joe replied, stepping into his boxer shorts, then pulling on his white muscle shirt over his head.

"Can't wait -- to see you in those blue pants with the red strip," Levon replied hungrily, retrieving his pants from the floor.

Stepping into his lover's face, pushing Levon's hands away from the jeans' zipper, Joe replied firmly while zipping up the man's pants. "*Don't* open the door for anyone tonight! I've got a key. If I'm done early enough with these two generals I'll come out, I'll call if I can. But, *don't,* Levon, under any circumstances open the door, please. I know this man too well... he will come after someone I love., and that someone is YOU. I don't want to bury you."

[][][][][]

Captain LaFiamma knocked on the Presidential Suite at the Airport Marriott, and the door immediately opened. "Ger, how are you? If you ever get tired of Smitty, I've got a job for you in Houston." Joey said, walking in, talking off his hat, he ran a hand through his hair. It had been a long time since he'd worn a hat, let alone been in a uniform.

"No, I'm not kidding," Joey continued, adding to an offhanded remark from First Sergeant Gerald R. Cavalier. "If that Will that was enclosed in that Top Secret folder is true... then, Carrot Top, I'm going to need someone like you to handle my affairs."

Gerald ushered LaFiamma into a small sitting room where two Marine generals sat talking in low tones. Upon his entrance, both men stood and greeted him, one more warmly than the other.

The conversation between the three men was animated and noisy. At last, LaFiamma shouted, using a name he only called his Colonel in private, "NO, SMITTY! I want this man! I agree with General Swietoniowski... if I'm a cop, I can't touch the man... if he takes a civilian, and I think I already know who it is, then I want to be able to wipe the sidewalk with his butt, and I can only do that as a Marine."

The black watched that LaFiamma smirk spread across his Captain's face. "I also agree, Sir, with the stipulations regarding your Will." Joey watched Smitty's eyes glow as the meaning of his statement sunk in.

"Oh, Joseph, thank you!" General Smith howled, grabbing the young Captain around his shoulders and hugging him.

"Now about this person you think Paddock's going after?"

"Sir, Paresley would like nothing better than to cause me pain. What I put on his record is probably the reason he has never been promoted past lieutenant. He knows he can't come after me... but he can go after Lundy." Joey replied, pain in his voice, sadness in his eyes, remembering what was left of a young sailor whose rectum, colon, Paddock had ruptured with his oversized cock.

"Your partner?! My god, Joseph!" General Smith gasped, shocked by the revelation.

"If he does, Smitty. I want him! I want him in his own tribunal right here in this room. Caribbean is a JAG now, and I know he can get here in less than an hour. He could be a second to Betty Sue's mother, and even though she is retired, she is still a judge. As a cop... all I could do would be to put him in jail, and in a year or two he might come to trial. If he touches Levon... I want him for that... for Betty Sue's murder... and for the destruction of General Swietoniowski's son. I want him branded, Sir... I want his ass marked for every pervert in Leavenworth!" Joey looked from one man to the other. Maybe he had demanded too much. It would be more like a kangaroo court except not. Because someone of his outfit was present at each human destruction, and now the 'prey's' family would take part in the final judgment.

Joe watched as Swietoniowski turned his back to him, and discusses the possibility with Smith. Standing behind General Swietoniowski but within view of Smitty, Joey got a wild thought. He opened his mouth just a bit, and slowly moved his tongue across the inside of his lower lip. Then opening his mouth a little wider, he brought his tongue out more licking his bottom lip first and then the top lip.

Smith's cock went boom...! Into a straight stand up position. If Swietoniowski noticed it he didn't say a word. He did, however, call Gerald into the room to get Joey sworn in for ten days active duty. Joe watched Gerry plug in a laptop computer, type in the orders, as well as LaFiamma's acceptance to the offer in General Smith's will. That done, General Swietoniowski said he would return to his room and start putting the court together. Gerald showed the man to the door, allowing the Captain to see just what his handiwork had done.

"I did not come here to have sex, Smitty," Joey said simply, glancing into the bedroom, noticing the bed was already turned down.

"I could only hope, Joseph. I have loved you for so long. My need... my need is only you," the General remarked sadly, placing a hand over his erection.

"Like I said in the elevator... if you want to make love... the kind of love you want done to you, the kind I want done to me, then," Joey stopped, his sharp blue eyes riveted on the black's face. Noticing that Smitty's hands were shaking, LaFiamma grasped them in his hands, and began to kiss them.

"You have to understand, that I love Lundy... and I am deeply committed to him. No matter what happens between us... I will never desert him. But he... would never understand our relationship... please don't ask me to chose." Joey reiterated, taking his chocolate-colored man by the hand and walking with him into the bedroom.

[][][][][]

 


	3. LaFiamma? A Marine? - Part 3

Part Three

A noise on the porch woke Levon, "Ten-thirty... bout time you got your body here, boy," Levon mumbled sleepily as he stumbled to the door, totally forgetting his partner's orders about not opening the door to anyone who might come calling.

"'Hey, LaFiam..." Levon started, Joe's name catching in his throat when he saw four Marines in battle fatigues standing under his porch light. The cowboy snapped awake, suddenly remembering LaFiamma's words.

"We know," replied a sweet voice, to the left, "he's probably exhausted by now from being used by our great illustrious Colonel. Or is it the other way around." Paddock laughed. "We never did know who was fucking who."

Levon swallowed hard, Joe's description of Paddock fit the man, and if they knew Joe wasn't here, that meant they were here - for him.

"'Course with General Swietoniowski there, they might not get to bed... less the Old Man insists on a threesome," Boldly pushing past Levon, Paddock walked into the cowboy's living room. "Then again, my friends and I thought we'd see just what kind of a lover our old Captain has for himself now. You sure don't look like much. You are his lover, though... right?" Paddock demanded, gesturing to the three men who had followed him into the house. "My informants are rarely wrong."

"I believe you gentlemen are...." Lundy started, wishing LaFiamma would hurry, remembering too late that Joe said he might not be there and not to wait up for him.

"He's calling us - gentlemen!" Cardinal laughed, grabbing the Texan by the shoulders and giving him a sloppy kiss on the neck. "LaFiamma tell you about the game he invented?"

"Yes, he did," Levon asked, a quiver in his voice, fear in his throat.

"Good," Lieutenant James Tomas Paresley IV chortled, clapping his hands together, "then you know what's coming ...don't you?!" And before Levon could react, Paddock embraced the cowboy pinning his arms to his sides. "STRIP EM!" The Lieutenant shouted gleefully, grinning from ear to ear as Mikey and Cardinal stripped off Levon's boots, socks, jeans, shorts.

"You... you can't do this," Levon protested as his bare feet hit the cold wood floor.

"Hey, Sergeant Lundy, we are doing it," Warsaw laughed, loving this part of the game. Making a man dizzy, twirling him one way and then another as his shirt is stripped off.

"Where shall we put him... gentlemen?" Paddock teased, pushing his already hardening cock up against the cowboy's bare thigh.

"Outside... outside... he has a swing on his porch," Mikey yelped, clapping his hands together. "We can stand him on the swing and tie his hands at the top! Man this is going to be the funniest time we've had in a long time," Mikey Loomas purred, running to hold the door open as Paddock lifted the stunned Texan off his feet and walked to the porch.

Standing back, looking at how helpless the Texan was, strung up like a fly caught in a spider's web, they burst out laughing and gave each other the high five.

"I get the front," Paddock shouted, starting the game, "you guys divide up the rest. One... Two... three... GO!"

Joe had explained the game. But it wasn't until the Texan felt a tongue licking up each side of his leg... a mouth nibbling on his butt... one of his balls being swallowed into a mouth... that he understood why the prey is driven to unconsciousness. The pleasure is so great, so intense your brain can't handle it. He wondered if anyone's brain had ever exploded.

Lundy moaned with the pleasure of it. He heard a voice, repeating over and over again, 'it's so good, god, its so good,' and he knew it was his voice. Twenty minutes into the game, Levon was babbling. Forty minutes into the game, the cowboy's head rolled from one shoulder to the other, stars... gold, and red, shooting off behind his closed eyes. He didn't know how much more he could take, couldn't keep focused, couldn't... but when they reached up to his hands, his eyes popped open.

"Don't stop...., please don't stop yet," the blond cowboy muttered, wanting the pleasure. Enjoying the pleasure.

"Suck him off, Paddy!" Mikey yelped, excitedly, anxious to see his friend swallow the Texan's cock, working it with his throat.

Levon's body jerked forward and back as he exploded hot liquid into Paddock wanton mouth. Then he was still. Too still, Cardinal thought, lightly touching the blond on the nipple to see if he would get a reaction.

"HE'S OUT! Come on, let's get him into the bedroom," Paddock said gleefully, stepping up to the swing to release Lundy's wrists.

"BBB... bedroom, what you talking about?" Cardinal asked nervously, looking from Mikey to Warsaw and back again. "The game stops when the prey whites out. That's the end. We leave him here for LaFiamma to find."

"Are you kidding?! Leave this specimen of a hard-on unfulfilled... mine of course, not his. No way, gentlemen... come on, help me get him down. We can relieve ourselves in his ass, and listen to him scream for mercy at the same time... it's a pleasure like you've never experienced." Lieutenant Paresley looked around, "What you guys chickening out on me!? Mikey? Look how hard you all are... come on!"

The three backed away, silently realizing that the stories they had been hearing about this man were indeed true. Nodding to each other, they scooted into the ranch house, grabbed their clothes and exited the back door, dressing as they went.

"Guess its you and me, cowboy." Paddock said, licking his lips, slinging the limp Texan over his shoulder, he ambled back into the house, kicking the door shut with his foot

"Just you and me, cowboy," Paddock sang as he walked down the hall looking for the bedroom.

"Here we are. Let's see..." he said, tossing Lundy onto the bed. "Shall we start face up... or face down... sure a dilemma," Paddock chuckled, turning the blond onto his stomach. "I just had it in my back pocket here... oops, no pants right." Moving off the bed, Paresley trotted to the door and looked for the package he had tossed down the hall when he burst through Lundy's door an hour or so ago. Spotting it next to his left foot, he reached down picked it up, and unwrapped it as he walked back to the bed.

"I love you guys and your four-poster beds. Makes these tethers work a lot better... an ankle here, a wrist there and you're done."

"Huh," Lundy moaned, lifting his head, when Paddock jerked his arm out. "Wha? What you doing?" Levon asked groggily, his eyes growing large as saucers at the hard-on flopping on the bed inches from his face.

[][][][][]

"Don't you think we should call LaFiamma?" Warsaw asked fearfully. Stopping at the edge of the woods, looking back and seeing the tall handsome black carrying LaFiamma's partner in the house.

"I got a wife and kids, man," Cardinal chirped, "we call, we could be accomplices. "We... we can wait and see if he shows up for work in the morning."

"Damn, where's my belt buckle," Warsaw quizzed looking around. "My dad gave that to me. It's from Poland. I can't leave without it," Jon said sorrowfully, this night was turning into more than he bargained for.

"The Captain is in a meeting with Generals Smith and Swieton... whatever his name is. You want to disturb them." Mikey asked, crouched behind a tree.

"If it was my partner that Paddock had, you're darn right I would." The Polish officer replied. "My belt buckle... did you see it?"

"There was a shiny silver thing on the floor by the coffee table.... In there!" Michael Parsons Lyst answered, pointing back toward the house. "Warsaw, let it go, you can't go back in the house, what if he finds you?"

"It's from Poland! It was my dad's!"

"Okay," Cardinal squawked, " we'll get the car and bring it into the driveway, lights off. Get in and out as fast as you can."

[][][][][]

"You like that do you, cowboy?" Paddock mused, grabbing handfuls of blond hair. "You ain't going no place, dude. You're tied tighter than a hen at roasting time." Skillfully holding Levon's head in place, Paddock used his other hand to guide his cock across the blond's face, pushing into nostrils, ears, under the jaw line... and finally into the mouth. "You best lubricate that good. Or it's going into your ass raw... red hot and dry."

"Yeah... why don't we just do that... lover of LaFiamma! Let's just break open the anus and start some fissures a' bleeding here. You know what fissures are, don't you?" Paddock chuckled, moving around on the bed to position himself between Lundy's legs. "Fissures... those little... sometimes big... cracks in the skin that happen when something too big goes into or out of an area that is too small. Scream all you want, Lundy, ain't nobody here but you and me."

 _[Oh, god, Joe, forgive me. Forgive me for not waiting, for not listening.]_  "AAARRGGGGHH"

[][][][][]

Jogging around to the back of the house, Warsaw took his shoes off, tied them together and laid them around his neck. Cautiously, noiselessly, the Pole edged into the house, through the kitchen, down the hall to the living room. A scream from the bedroom stopped him cold. He plastered himself against the wall, steeling him against the screams of pain coming from the bedroom.

Jon's eye caught a reflection of light on the living room floor. He quickly dashed across to pick it up, accidentally bumping the coffee table as he bent down to pick up his prized belt buckle. Again he froze, his eyes darting around the room for a place to hide as he heard Paddock say, 'looks like someone came back for the fun, don't go way now.' Finding no mirrors or pictures that would bounce his reflection to the entry, Warsaw made a quiet dive for the back of the sofa, bringing his knees to his chin.

Lying on the floor, Warsaw eyes were glued to the bare feet on the floor on the other side of the couch. Holding his breath, he didn't dare breath for fear of discovery.

"Maybe the guy's got a cat. Probably needs one with a barn that big. Hey, what's this?" Paddock replied, stopping to look at an open box on Lundy's desk. Picking up the pocket watch that Caroline Lundy had given her husband, JTP twirled the chain around his finger. "Well, well, you never know where you're going to find a kinky sex toy."

Warsaw looked at his watch, waiting five minutes, then ten, before slowly, quietly getting to his feet. He quietly, step by step, began retracing his way to the back door. Suddenly Warsaw stopped, Pad had left the bedroom door wide open, could he get past without the tall, husky, hairy man seeing him. He paused for only a moment before the decision was made for him. A blood curdling scream from the gentle man they had tied to the swing, and the sight of a bloody cock being withdrawn from that man, spun Jonathan around and he made a dead run down the hall and out the front door, letting the squeaky screen slam behind him.

"Well, cowboy," Paddock whispered, leaning his lank body across Lundy's back, "Looks like there was someone in the house after all. Bet he got a good show. If he's a runner, he'll be calling your friend and mine. We still got time to play though... takes a while to drive out here."

Barely conscious, pain shooting through his body, Lundy's head jerked at the musical sound that came from Caroline's watch when Paddock opened it.

"Uh, soo... this is recognizable, eh? Another lover? Wife maybe? Why don't we just turn you over, and see what this little chain can do to bring you off."

Jumping off the bed in anticipation of more pleasure, Paddock gleefully twisted the naked cowboy's body as he first transferred the tethered ankles to opposite bedposts. Moving to the headboard, the deranged abuser straddled Lundy's chest, allowing his cock to bang into the detective's face as arms, wrists were retied.

"Like that do you? Why don't we just give you a taste?" Paresley suggested laughing, letting his cock fall across Levon's lips.

Levon's, "Ohmygod, NO!" was trapped in his throat as bloodied flesh jabbed its way in. The Texas gasping for breath jerked from side to side in an attempt to dislodge the man. Then he was still.

Pulling his cock free, Paddock bent down and whispered, "Don't worry dude, I ain't going to kill you - yet! We still got time for the grand finale .. and don't worry about screaming for it... I'll be kissing you while I push in .. deep and far... right up to your navel."

[][][][][]

[Geez, I'm out of practice for a four mile run. Wait till I see those guys who were suppose to wait for me.] A persistent honking, than a siren alerted him to someone, something coming up behind him. Slowing to a walk, and than stopping, Warsaw swallowed hard as a Harris County Sheriff car pulled along side him.

Excitedly mumbling in half English, half Polish, Jon pulled out his wallet, but instead of taking out his Minnesota drivers license, he handed them a card that LaFiamma had jokingly made for him once, but that had proved lifesaving on more than one occasion. It stated that he was from Poland, in the U.S. doing training with the Marines in San Antonio.

Frustrated in their attempts to communicate, one of the deputies got on the radio to ask for a Polish interrupter. Within minutes a patch was made to a sleepy language professor from Rice University, and Warsaw was explaining only that he got in to Houston and someone holding a poster at the airport said he would take him to the address he had.

Handing the crumpled slip of paper, with the hotel name and coded phone number on it to the deputy, Jon faked total astonishment when the officer pointed to the paper and said this is at the airport. "That? Airport?"

Jon watched as the back door of the police car was opened and he was offered a ride. "NO, NO.... I didn't do anything wrong? NO."

"It's okay," the overweight deputy said, "we will take you... to this address."

"NO...no.... in my country... you ride with police.... You never seen again!" Warsaw exclaimed wide-eyed backing away. Jon glanced at his watch, god he had to get to the Captain. "You sure... you not take me to jail... throw away the key."

[][][][][]

LaFiamma's tanned, limp body lay across the black body of his former lover. It had been the most wonderful, sensual experiences they'd ever had together. They were relishing in the joy of making love without pressures, without demands, when the call came. "I'd like to do this again sometime, Sir," Joey whispered, sucking on a chocolate earlobe.

<<*Loud ....KNOCK...ING... !*>>

"What is it? Come, Gerald," Smitty called, his hand sliding under the sheet to his young lover's groin as he sat up.

"It's...." Gerry began, shocked at how General Smith looked. He had seen them in bed together many times before, but never had he seen such euphoria on Smith's face. "For Captain LaFiamma. It's Cardinal. Paddock... has Lundy!"

"OH, SHIT!" LaFiamma roared, throwing back the sheet. "Is he still on the phone?"

Swinging his legs off the bed, he motioned to Gerry to get his clothes, wondering how many times in the past that the man had done this same thing... getting clothes for Smith's lovers.

"LaFiamma... Cardinal... slower, man... Bird man... use your language." Joey listened intently to Carroll's half talking, half-sobbing report being given to him Portuguese.

"Where are you now? Come to the Airport Marriott. I'll give you back to Gerald, he'll tell you where to come and how to get up here. You don't talk to anyone! You hear... No cops, Bird man!"

The detective-Marine handed the phone back to Gerald, red mad fire burning through his veins. The light touch of his old lover did nothing to extinguish the pain he felt. The pain he knew his partner was encountering at the hands of this sadist.

"Cardinal, Mikey, Warsaw and Paddock went to Lundy's ranch tonight," Joe said slowly, too angry to even make a move for the clothes next to him. "They tied him in a standing position on his porch swing. Paddock took the front, Cardinal the back, and the other two on each side. It took an hour of seduction before he finally blacked out. The three took off when Paresley said it was off to the bedroom now. Their last vision of him was carrying Lundy over his shoulder into the house." That thought, of his partner totally helpless, spurred the Italian into action.

Standing LaFiamma began reaching for his clothes, knowing he should be moving faster. His partner's life depended on his speed of action. He also knew things had to get done in order to save that life.

"Gerald... I need you to put out another code... Code RED ... PD ...CV - Houston. Handsome! I need a med-vac to transport me to Lundy's ranch... the 41st Combat Support Hospital has some in the area... get one! When people start checking in, I want Lundy's house cordoned off. Closed tight. No cops. No media. Same for the hospital... a corner we can isolate. Lundy is the only witness we have to Paddock's rape assaults. I want him isolated... I will notify my civilian Lieutenant later." Joey rattled off orders as he dressed. "How many have checked in from the first Code Red?"

"Twenty-five, so far," Carrot-Top replied trotting into the sitting area to his laptop, "and that includes two Med-Vac choppers."

"25!" Joey yelped, stopping in his tracks, half way to the door. "That many?"

"I told you, you were a good Marine, Joseph," Smith said, wrapping a blue silk robe around his wet glistening frame. "Should have more than a hundred..., if you need them. Handsome puts out an order that he needs help... they'll come. I told you they would."

The General caught Joey by the shoulders, jerking him backwards, turning him around, saying, "you did a lot more in the Corps, son, than just suck cocks. I'm sorry if that is all you remember doing. You did a lot of good things for a lot of people. I am honored to have enjoyed your company in and out of bed. Anything you want... on any radio... just say 'General G. W. Smith has ordered it... and you'll get it. Now get going... Gerald and I will see that BTGH is made ready for Lundy."

It took Joey a minute to translate BTGH into Ben Taub General Hospital, remembering that they have the best Trauma Center in the area.

KNOCKING....*POUNDING*... on the door.

LaFiamma jogged to the door, as he opened it Warsaw fell into his arms. "Cap.....cap.....pad....lund.... blood...."

"Easy, Jon, easy. Take it easy," Joey replied as Smith raced to his side, they half carried the exhausted ex-Marine to a chair. Slowly the story of what happened came out, the same details that Cardinal told, but also the escapade in the house and what he saw. Of the cops that had picked him up, but dropped him a couple blocks from the hotel. They had followed him as he ran. He hadn't been sure if he was going to make it to the hotel before they believed or disbelieved his story and tried to stop him. He said he zoomed through the lobby to the stairs and got on the elevator on the second floor.

"Wolf, Hummer and Hawk still downstairs?" Joe asked, turning to look at Gerry. "Good, take care of this man, and tell them I'm on my way down. Time's a wasting. Paddock's had Levon for a couple of hours already. Radio Hawk on where the chopper is picking me up."

[][][][][]

Gracefully emerging out of a crowded elevator at a slight jog, Joey did a fast walk toward the entrance. Giving a low whistle of alert to his men, Joe watched Hawk turn in his direction, nudging Wolf as he turned. Reaching the group, Joey looked at the two cops.  _[Great, a couple of airheads with big mouths picked up Warsaw.]_

"Your unit outside?" LaFiamma asked, without missing a step, he continued through the group to the parked police unit idling in a No Parking Zone. Against the protest of the officers he reached in for the microphone that lay on the dash.

"Dispatch. 9215. Patch me through to Sergeant Gutierrez." Joe waited impatiently, drumming his fingers on the top of the car, knowing his partner could be dying by a Marine's hand, or more likely the Marine's cock. Estaban came on at the same time a parked camouflaged Hummer emitted a signal indicating a call.

"Estaban! LaFiamma. You still know that guy with the bloodhounds? ... Great! Call this number... tell them you work with me... then meet me at the address they give you with the man and his hounds. And amigo," Joey replied earnestly, "A cowboy's life we know... depends on this."

"Captain..." Hawk called as Joey tossed the mike back into the police car, "the chopper will pick you up about a half mile down the road. The Pollock told them where a field was for landing."

"You mean the cock-and-bull story that Polish guy gave us was the truth?" One of the officers asked.

"Yeah! And the seconds he lost by having to run those last blocks may cost a man his life," Joey roared into their faces, oblivious to the tourists going in and out of the Marriott. "You just better hope that your stupidity doesn't cost a man his life, or you will have a hundred Marines in your face!"

[][][][][]

Giving directions to Lundy's ranch as they drove, Joey also gave them a description of Estaban. He knew he could count on Hummer and Hawk to get things done. Creating a small dust cloud, the Hummer roared to a stop on the empty lot opposite the idling chopper.

Joey bolted from a side door running full speed for the open door of the chopper, knowing all too well his partner could already be dead at the hands of this maniac. He paid no attention to the person inside the chopper who called his name, he just reached for the hand and jumped. As the bird took off, he looked around, "Jody!? Amy? Sal? What are you guys doing here?" Astonished to see paramedics he knew.

"What are we doing here?! We beat out two other Med-Vacs as soon as your Code Red came through. We know Handsome doesn't put out a Code Red unless something heavy is going down." Amy answered, reaching out to shake Joe's hand.

"Who's the CV involved?" Sal Dillard quizzed.

"I'm a Houston cop... a detective... the CV is my partner, Levon Lundy. Who's your pilot I need to give him..." Joe began, looking between Sal and Amy to the pilots.

"Levon Elmer Lundy?" One of the pilots echoed... "I went to Texas A&M with a Levon Lundy."

"That's him," Joey started, "just follow the..."

"Hell, I know where he lives," came the answer, "I used to buzz him and Fooler all the time."

[][][][][]

"Come on, cowboy, wake up!" Paddock yelled, slapping the blond across the face. "Come on, it ain't no fun if you're unconscious... the watch chain around your cock too much.. or maybe it was my bloody cock down your throat, huh? The Captain's going to be really mad when he sees you, but the pleasure was all mine... all mine, Sergeant Lundy, all mine."

Leaning back on his haunches Paresley looked at his handiwork. The Texan was covered with blood. His face. His chest. His genitals. The rectal bleeding had stopped, but what had come out was now smeared in delicate, sensuous areas of the groin, chest, neck and face. "Our Captain... will walk in here and blow his cool. Yes, Sir, Captain Handsome will think I cut you up good. It has definitely been a pleasure, Lundy. Definitely a pleasure. You want to sleep a bit, go right ahead... yup... rest up... get yourself rested for the next push... the one that blasts right through your rectum into your colon, making the biggest the hole the doctors will ever see."

Moving onto his knees Paresley leaned over the blond cowboy, dropping his head down, extending his tongue, Paddock lightly stroked Levon's neck. The tongue flicked around the Adams-apple up to the chin, along the bloodied lips which to Paddock's surprise opened. "What? You want more, do you?" The tormentor whispered, "or is that what LaFiamma does to arouse you?"

Lundy's eyes shot wide open, he struggled against the knee prodding his balls, against the tongue pushing into his throat. "Hey, boy... you invited me in." Paddock laughed, pulling back. "Ready for the final finale, are you? The big push... where this hard-on I've been saving pushes through the top of your rectum into your colon and explodes out your navel. You ready for that pain, cowboy?"

Roughly grabbing Levon's buttocks and lifting the man off the bed, Paddock aimed his cock for the prize he'd been waiting for... grinning he watched the head of his cock disappear.

Levon bit his tongue against the pain, silently praying that his lover would get there soon. An unfamiliar sound caught his ear, and in spite of the pain, and the trickles of blood he felt wetting the bed under him, Levon tilted his head to listen.  _[Lord, I hope that chopper I heard is real.]_

"What! You hear somethin'?" Paddock demanded tilting his head back to listen. "A chopper? HE'S CALLED OUT CHOPPERS!!?"

Paddock listened again. It was indeed a chopper, a military chopper, hovering close. "Damn you, LaFiamma! You are spoiling my fun again!" Pad roared at the top of his lungs, moving off the bed, and hotfooting it into the living room to find his pants, shirt and shoes. Picking up his under shorts, he made one last stop in the bedroom. "Just so you know who did this, Handsome, I'll leave my monogrammed shorts as a signature."

Quickly looking around for the pocket watch, James T. Paresley spotted it on Lundy's stomach. Reaching for it, forgetting that he had wrapped the chain around the cowboy's penis, he was taken aback when it resisted. Looking down he fumbled with it, though he knew he was losing precious minutes, he wanted this watch.

As bloodied fingers unwrapped the watch's chain, Lundy muttered, "Please Paddock... no more. I'll... I'll do whatever you want... please don't put it in me again."

[][][][][]

The chopper hovered over a truck convey waiting for a break to set down on the highway in front of Levon's driveway.

"Hell!" Joey shouted, "I didn't know there was this much traffic out here in the middle of the night. We gotta get down, man!"

"To hell with it! We're going down," one of the pilots shouted back. "You four take off what you need and I'll go back up, when I see you coming through the trees I'll set down again. Maybe your Marines will be here by then to hold back the traffic."

Cars, trucks, skidded to a halt as the large helicopter landed on the two-lane road a few feet from the start of Lundy's gravel driveway. Tapping the pilot on the shoulder, Joey shouted, "Pass the word... this is a closed operation... no cops... no media."

"You got it, LaFiamma," came the shout as Joe disembarked behind the uniformed paramedics.

Racing up Levon's driveway, ahead of the paramedics who were running with a basket gurney laden with medical equipment, Joe took the Texan's front steps in one leap. Down the hall, rounding the corner into the bedroom, Joey grabbed hold of the doorframe to keep from gagging at the sight before him. "Oh, Mary, Mother of God... may he be alive." LaFiamma gasped, staring at the man he loved, blood everywhere.

Amy, Jody and Sal brushed past him, busily getting to work on their patient. "He's alive," Jody whispered softly, pressing two fingers to Levon's throat.

Sal grabbed Levon's wrist, holding it while he cut the leather tethers binding the cowboy to the bed.

Words that would overshadow LaFiamma's own nightmares, burst forth from his partner's lips. "... please... no more...can't take no-more...."

Tightly through clenched teeth, tears running down his face, Joey said, "Paddock... I'm going to kill you - one piece of skin at a time."

Sal's head jerked up, "Paddock? James Paresley did this? This is his handiwork?" The medic growled angrily.

Joey merely nodded, his eyes watching Jody slowly, meticulously checking her patient, cleaning, washing body parts so she could check for damages. Looking over her shoulder at LaFiamma, she replied gently, "foreign matter in the mouth... that's all so far... looks like he was smeared with blood for show."

"Paddock's claim to fame is rupturing the rectum, and releasing his erection into the colon," Joe answered, stepping forward away from the wall, moving to the end of the bed.

Looking at Sal, Joey asked, "You know him?"

"KNOW HIM! I WAS ENGAGED TO BETTY SUE!" Sal spat out angrily, "I was with her mother... when... when we had to identify Betty. I want in on his castration!"

The voices around Levon drifted in slow. There was one voice he latched onto, "Joe?" Levon croaked through a swollen throat.

"Levon," Joey called softly, gently, moving quickly from the end of the bed to the left side. "Don't talk partner... paramedics here."

Lundy felt the tender touch of Joe's fingers along his jaw. "He... he's got... Caroline's watch."

"The watch Caroline gave you for your anniversary before she....died?" Joe asked, not sure he should have used the word died.

"He wrapped the chain around my... he used... I... I opened the door... for them." Levon said hesitantly, eyes closed, too afraid the voice he had latched onto would disappear if he opened them.

"Hush up, cowboy... let the paramedics here, transport you to the Trauma Center. I know these people, Levon... they'll take good care of you."

Standing, relief that Levon wasn't dead sweeping over him, LaFiamma nodded to Jody, then to Sal. "Keep me posted. You can contact me through this number," Joey said, writing the coded phone number on a corner of her clipboard. "Wait a minute. I need something of Paddock's for the bloodhounds that are coming."

"Found these on the floor," Jody answered, handing Joe a pair of blue shorts with the initials JTP on them.

"Absolutely beautiful... blondie..." LaFiamma retorted winking at her. "You always were you know... beautiful." He said with a grin.

Walking onto Lundy's front porch, while the medics prepared to transport his partner, his lover, Joe stood looking at the porch swing, leather tethers still hanging from the rings of the swing. "Damn murderer came prepared for everything."

"Captain LaFiamma, Sir," a voice from the past called.

Turning toward the voice, Joey stared in disbelief at the fifteen or so Marines standing in Levon's driveway. "Charlie...?" Joe started, "what the hell you doing here?" Looking around the area, LaFiamma discovered that Hummer, Wolf and Hawk had arrived. Obviously, Joe thought, the Marines had landed. And beyond, off to the side, the Italian saw Estaban and a man who looked to be a hundred.

Charles Farmingham stepped forward. "Your orders, Sir... this is a closed operation. No cops. No media... we have a team to take care of the crime scene. Get evidence to the court martial. We're putting a team together for the hospital... third floor... end of the hall, Sir... per your request."

Joey's eyes skipped from face to face. Each man was someone he had worked with on past missions or had helped train. "Sure hope, no one left a wedding," he said jokingly, as he walked down the steps.

"Rehearsal, Sir," someone blurted near the end of the line. "Was glad to get away."

It took LaFiamma a second to remember that was code for: my in-laws are in town, thanks for the respite.

"Okay, so you all know where I stand on this matter... in real life... I am Houston cop... a Detective for the Major Crimes Division. The CV is my partner! He is the only living witness the Marines have to Paddock's dastardly deeds. I want him protected at all costs! No one! And I mean no one, outside of the hospital staff, myself... and this cop!" Joe blasted, pausing momentarily to point out Estaban, "this cop... Sergeant Estaban Gutierrez... is the only cop allowed in Lundy's room until you hear further from me."

"YES, SIR!" Came a chorus of response.

"Okay, let's get the bastard!" Joey shouted, tossing the under shorts to Wolf. "Let the dogs get a whiff of this. Let me know when you find a trail leading out."

Estaban stood next to the two men who had met him at the driveway, awed by what he saw happening in front of him. All these men had worked with or for LaFiamma when he was in the Marines. All respected him... enough to even leave a wedding rehearsal to come to assist him, not even knowing what it was until they got here.

"How much head start does he have? Is Renegade... Mum, here?" Joe asked scanning the group of men.

"They are already in the woods," came the answer somewhere in the ranks.

"Joey..." Amy called, as she descended the steps, followed by Sal and Jody, tenderly carrying Levon in the basket between them.

Only those standing close to him, saw the misting in the eyes of their Captain as he turned. LaFiamma stood still waiting for the paramedics to reach him. Joe heard Estaban's gasp of surprise at seeing the blond detective's bloodied face and bandaged wrists.

"He's worried about the watch, Joe," Amy said upon reaching him. "Something about 'that man' hiding it where it will never be found."

"Joe?" Came a hoarse croak from the stretcher.

Dropping to his knees next to his partner, his lover, LaFiamma's men got a first-hand look at the bond between Lundy and LaFiamma. Lightly touching his lover on the jaw as he had done in the bedroom, Joey whispered, "Levon. I'll get Caroline's watch, don't worry."

"But... but he said ... you'd never find..."

"Partner... you know how persistent I am," Joey answered, his hands not leaving his lover's face. Smiling to himself as he heard several Marines next to him echo, "oh yes, we know how persistent he is!"

Nodding to Amy, LaFiamma bounced to his feet, and waited until the medics were well up the driveway before he asked, "Anyone here on detail when Paresley tried to smuggle that contraband into his friend in Ginnia."

"I was, Sir," a black-haired Asian American said, stepping forward.

"How was the contraband smuggled in?" Joe asked quietly, looking directly into the man's face.

The Marine gulped, looking around somewhat embarrassed.

"WELL - MARINE! HOW - DID - HE - DO - IT?!" Captain LaFiamma shouted, stepping nose to nose to the man.

"In... in his ass, Sir. Like a tampon... in a plastic bag... with a string. Sir."

"Thanks, son," Joey found himself saying, patting the man on the shoulder.

"CAPTAIN! THE DOGS GOT THE SCENT! LEADING AWAY FROM THE BARN INTO THE WOODS!" Wolf hollered from the side of the house.

[][][][][]

Paddock rested against a tree, panting. Looking at his wrist, he discovered he had forgotten his watch, and he sure wasn't going back to Lundy's house to look for it. Nor was he going to pluck the other one out. He had worked too hard to get it into his special hiding place. He'd never had to run for his life before. He had always had time to lay back and relax and watch the reaction of his prey when they came to... if they came to. He looked at the moon reflecting off the lake in front of him. It had to be two or three in the morning by now. 'bout the time his dad would be getting up to go out for an early morning fish. He hadn't seen his dad in years. Didn't even know if the man was still alive. But he remembered his father never slept more than three or four hours a night. The old man was always, always awake when he tried to sneak in late.

Moving down to the lake in front of him, JTP unbuttoned his shirt, and splashed cold mountain water onto his hairy chest. Staring down at the dried blood entwined in his chest hair, he tried once again to cup his hands and splash water onto himself in an effort to remove the evidence of the crime that he carried with him.

"Wish I could have seen LaFiamma's face when he walked into that bedroom. Bet he damn near collapsed. Whatever happens, it was damn fun. Would have liked to have had his woman, but the Captain's man... just as good. Just as good." Buttoning his shirt, he started back up the hill towards the meadow.

[][][][][]

"Damn, LaFiamma, I ain't used to running like this," Estaban huffed. "Let alone in the dark.". Looking over at LaFiamma who looked barely winded, the Mexican cop asked, "what's going to happened when we catch this guy? You turning him over to Beaumont?"

"Beaumont? This is a Marine matter, Estaban. Didn't you hear me give the No cops order? I'll let Joanne know in due time. You're here as a guest. If you want out... you'll be in detention until I'm done."

"I didn't say I wanted out, LaFiamma. Just wondering why you asked me?"

"I asked you, because you are one of the few cops other than Lundy I trust. What's going to happen to his guy? What did you do to Serpentine. That and worse, my friend. Much worse."

[][][][][]

Paddock froze in his tracks, listening, tilting his head one way and then another. "Dogs? They got dogs after me?"

Somewhere to the far side of him came a song...

"..we got Paddock in a corner tight..

he's gonna be our dinner tonight..

Hon-ney, start cookin, I'm fine,

Hon-ney, start cookin, I'm fine."

"..we got Paddock in a cor..ner tight!

He's gonna be a dinner tonight.

Hon-ney, start cookin, I'm fine.

Hon-ney, start cookin, I'm fine."

Hearing the cadence, Wolf called back over his shoulder to Joe and Estaban, "He's between us and Renegade... listen."

Joe asked if one of the dogs could be let go, and it was, dashing full speed into the early dawn. The Marines, even Estaban, picked up the song, echoing back and forth, until several minutes later, they came upon the dog's tail waving above the prairie grass. Paddock was trapped under its paws, being loved to death with a long slurpy tongue.

"Get him on his feet," Joe ordered sharply, stepping back as Renegade and Hawk jerked Paddock to his feet.

"Where's the watch?" Joe demanded curtly, holding the palm of his out to the rapist.

"Try and find it, Captain?" Paddock growled back boldly.

"The pocket watch... Paddock! Hand it over now... and you might live a little longer." Joey growled loudly into Paddock's face, his eyes catching sight of Lundy's blood crusted in the man's matted chest hair.

Ripping open Paresley's shirt, Joe asked for a scissors and a baggy.

Estaban hadn't seen anyone carrying anything, yet into Joe's hand was placed a small scissors. He watched LaFiamma cut a huge patch of bloodied hair from Paddock's chest.

"See that this gets tested," Joe said to no one in particular. "Shave it all off! ... before you deliver him."

"Shave it! You can't do that! I got my rights!" Paddock growled, swallowing hard, fear he hadn't felt before tightening in his belly.

"You don't exist anymore, Paresley. You are a non-person. By this afternoon... you will be bunking in Leavenworth."

"Leaven...worth?"

"Leavenworth! Now, you going to hand over the watch... or do I take it from you?"

Wolf watched his Captain shake himself, a tremor like a jumper does before a race. He motioned Estaban back, and Renegade and Hawk too.

"What's going on?" Estaban whispered, not understanding why they just didn't wrestle the guy to the ground and search the dude.

"You ever seen LaFiamma mad? Really, mad," Wolf whispered back. Watching the cop shake his head no, Wolf continued, "well, you're going to now. And cop... anything that goes on here. Doesn't leave this place."

Estaban watched in amazement. He doubted if he would be able to explain what happened next to anyone, and if he could, they wouldn't believe him anyway. He watched Joe give a slight jump barely a half-inch off the ground, that wham-o... he was in the air, both feet hitting Paddock square in the groin, then back to his stance. The ex-Matamoras cop swallowed, there was a hell of a lot more to this Italian from Chicago than anyone in Texas knew about.

"Get him on his feet!" LaFiamma barked at the two Marines behind the moaning suspect. "Strip em! Go through his clothes!" Joe demanded.

"Nothing here, Captain." Hawk answered, holding pants and a shirt with pockets turned inside out.

"You didn't have time to hide it before you left. And you wouldn't be able to get back to retrieve it, if you did. Reckon we will just have to do a body search." Joe snarled, a devilish twinkle coming into his blue eyes. "You got those pinchers he used on Betty Sue, Hawk?" LaFiamma asked, holding his hand out to the side.

Paddock gulped as a long-nose pliers was placed in his former Captain's hand.

"That will do."

"You can wrap a chain around Lundy's cock giving him excruciating pain. You implanted a staple pullers into a breast of a sweet young woman engaged to a Marine paramedic... so I see no reason why I can't clamp this onto your balls and pull it down to your ankles." Joe said in a tight controlled voice, each word sliced with rage.

"The... the watch... it's... it's in my ass," Paddock stammered, his eyes moving with the hand that held the large red tool.

"Then grab your ankles, you stinking bastard!"

Estaban watched in anticipation as the naked man did as he was told. Joe walked around behind the man, kneeling, using a tool that the Mexican could not distinguish, he probed into the man's anus. When a half smile began to form on the Italian's face, the detective knew his friend had found Lundy's prize possession.

Joe slowly retracted the watch, which was tightly wrapped in a small plastic sack. Handing it to Hawk, he gave orders for the crime boys to look it over and then said he would need it when he went to the hospital later. Still squatting, Joe played catch with the pliers.

"Nooo... you can't... I... told you where it was," Paddock pleaded, his eyes wide.

"Did Lundy plead like that when you wrapped this chain around his cock and lifted him off the bed? Did Dave Swietoniowski plead like that when you rammed your cock through his rectum? And what about Betty Sue... how did she plead? You took her life Paresley, and for that you are going to pay?" LaFiamma growled sarcastically, staring at the two sacs in front of his face.

"If... you don't feel you can do it, Captain... I'd be more than honored," Renegade said softly from behind him.

"Thanks, Renegade... but this guy's mine!" And with that, Captain Joseph A. LaFiamma, USMC, gripped the red-handled pliers firmly in his fist, opened them slightly and clamped a small piece of loose flesh. Joe waited a second or two, to let Paddock think he had changed his mind, before he yanked the flesh downward, felling the man to his knees.

"NNOOOOOOO!" The scream echoed around the lake scaring early pre-dawn fishermen; drifting back into the yard around Lundy's ranch house, Marines in maroon tee shirts gave the high-five to each other upon hearing of Paddock's capture.

Captain LaFiamma stood up. "March him back as he is. Blindfold him - Gag him when you get to the ranch. Take him into the Marriott through the back entrance. Wrap a sheet or a robe around him. Tell anyone who tries to stop you that he is on his way to a shiravee."

Turning his attention to Paddock, Handsome said, "now you are on your way to be court-martialed. And believe me, what Smith has planned for you is nothing compared to this."

Straightening his clothes, letting his men step in and take over, Joey looked at Estaban. The Hispanic gave him a shrug, and then a smile. "This is why I can't be a cop in Mexico anymore... too much rough stuff. Bosses didn't like it."

"This is why I agreed to be a Marine for ten days. Think Beaumont would let me do this? No way!"

"One thing, LaFiamma?"

"What?"

"Can we walk back?"

[][][][][]


	4. LaFiamma? A Marine? - Part 4

Part Four

[][][][][]

What did the hospital say, Gerald?" General Smith asked, pacing back and forth, worried not only about Joseph but Lundy as well.

"I talked with Doctor Baker. LaFiamma evidently got to him before Paddock could rupture any inner organs. He had some minor surgery, should be home in a few days. This Doctor Baker was one of the medical personnel who treated LaFiamma when he was recovered from Lebanon."

"Was he? And what does that have to do with Lundy?"

One day, Carrot Top thought to himself, someone is going to find out that Smith was responsible for LaFiamma's torture in Lebanon. He just wished he had more than a fax as evidence to back up his theory.

"Nothing, Sir. Just thinking about how small the world is. The court-martial is set. People should start arriving about 0700. Hawk checked in a few minutes ago... they have Paddock. LaFiamma is going to the hospital before he comes here. He will be here as close to 0700 as he can be. He said not to start without him. He was bringing some evidence."

"We shall wait for Captain LaFiamma... to start proceedings. "

[][][][][]

Briskly walking into the Emergency entrance of Ben Taub General Hospital, Captain LaFiamma was met by two former Marines of his dressed in brown jeans, brown boots and maroon shirts with an insignia he didn't recognize. The same logo was on the shirts at Lundy's ranch, but he didn't have time then to check it out. Puzzled he asked what it meant.

"It's the world, Sir. The red dots are every place you've ever served. The words say - 'Handsome's Hooligans.' On the back, Sir," Dale Gillbank replied, turning to show his former Captain the back of his shirt. Joe's mouth dropped open, startled to see the words General Smith had spoken to him yesterday now staring him in the face.

S = steadfast

T = tenacious

U = undaunting

D = driven

S = serious

Proud to be a Marine!

"We... were describing you to someone," Gillbank said, turning back to see LaFiamma's surprised look. "And Hummer started putting down all the letters, and well... this is what we came up with. Hope you don't mind, Sir."

Joe turned his head and looked at Hummer, who grinned and said, "It's better than some of the words we came up with Captain. And..." in a quieter tones, Hummerstein added, "all those at the table had... enjoyed your sword... Sir."

LaFiamma didn't speak for several minutes, the two Marines who were with him, and the two who met him at the door began to worry. Their Captain wasn't usually this quiet, and if he was, that meant there was going to be hell to pay. Joe waited until he saw a small bead of sweat start to form on the forehead in front of him. Then the Italian said as he turned for the elevators, "Next time, Hummer... ask - me - first!" The four men were so relieved they weren't going to be reamed up one side and down the other, they completely missed the grin that spread across their Captain's face.

Reaching the elevator, Joe turned back to the foursome. "You guys waiting for the tide to come in... or are we going upstairs?"

"Yes, Sir!" came the unison cry as they jogged to the elevators. "Oh, Captain," Gillbank retorted upon reaching him, "I was sent down here to tell you that a Lieutenant Beaumont was upstairs... being pushy... insisting on seeing Lundy... demanding to know what was going on."

"Damn! Who the hell called her? I was hoping to get through Paddock's court-martial before having to face her."

"Who is she?" Hummer asked, intrigued.

"Gentlemen," Joey said as the elevator came to a stop, "you are about to meet my civilian boss."

"Your boss is a woman!?" Wolf quizzed, a grin starting across his face.

"Wipe that smile off your face, Wolfman! This lady didn't get to be in her position by being a softy," Joey said, taking a deep breath and letting it out slow.

Trotting through people waiting to enter the elevator, Joe sidestepped an older man and came face to face with Lieutenant Joanne Beaumont.

"LaFiamma!" The brunette groused obviously frustrated with getting nowhere in regards to information about Lundy.

"What the hell's going on here?" she asked, gesturing toward the Marines congregating in the hall. "The hospital called to say one of my men had just been flown in by military helicopter. Why can't I get information about Lundy?"

"Ma'am?" Joey answered quietly, not wanting to make a scene.

"Don't ma'am me, Sergeant!" Joanne growled trying in vain to stare down her handsome detective.

"Joanne..." Joey replied quietly, "Right now, I am on administrative leave from your department. I am in the Marine Corps... I am a higher rank than you. My General has given me certain orders that I must obey. He takes precedence over anything you... or I, may want. Levon is a material witness, and a victim of an assault done by someone the Marines have been after for a long time. I cannot allow you to see him, or talk with him. There has been a Marine..., and an HPD officer with him since he arrived."

"A Cop? What cop?" The brunette demanded stepping closer.

"Joey!" Estaban called, stepping out of Lundy's room to look down the hall. "Come quick! Hurry!"

"Estaban! You called Estaban?!" The brunette gasped, watching her detective leave her and jog down the hall.

"HeySu,... take her down to the conference room and keep her there." Joey ordered as he ran toward his fellow detective.

"Estaban? What's up?" Joey gasped, sliding to a halt, putting his hands out to the wall to keep from going through it.

A sheepish grin crossed the Mexican's face. "That Marine said you were in the need of rescuing."

Joe looked Estaban grinning, "He had that right. How's Levon?"

He's going to have a painful butt for a while. Doc said the surgery they did was corrective... kind of like having your hemorrhoids out... that Paddock really have a ten-inch cock? The cowboy just finished giving a taped interview on what happened to a JAG officer. I'm learning all kinds of terms I never knew before. These guys really like you, you know that," the curly-haired detective said as they walked into Lundy's room.

"What? You think just because the cops in this forsaken place don't like me, that that goes for the rest of the world too?" Joe answered, turning a stern face to the Mexican.

"What do you mean, LaFiamma? Everyone likes you," Estaban replied, confused by his friend's reaction.

"That why every Saturday... still after being here this long... cops are still trying to raise money to send me back to Chicago. Don't kid me, Estaban. I've heard them talk about me. Every Marine you've seen today is here voluntarily. Some are still in the Corps, some like me, have civilian jobs. I put out a call for help... twenty-five responded within the first hour. Other than you, Lundy, and Carol... I doubt that any other cop in Houston would come if I put out a call for backup."

"I think you're wrong. I do."

"I need to talk to Levon alone... why don't you go down and join Beaumont in the conference room. And remember..."

"I know, I know... I can't tell her anything," the Mexican cop groused, throwing up his hands.

The woman sitting next to Lundy's bed waited until the detective left before looking up. "Joe... your partner gave a good description of what he remembers... it came in snatches. I know you're going to play this at the court-martial... so I have to tell you...you'd best have someone next to you... to either hold you up... or hold you back."

"Thanks, Lucia," Joey said, watching her get up and walk toward him. "Appreciate what you... what everyone is doing," the Italian responded, kissing her lightly on the cheek. "Did you pick up the stuff from my place?"

Standing at an angle in front of Lundy, Lucia's hand slid down her Marine's thigh that Levon's couldn't see, "I always do what I am told, Captain. The unmarked envelope is under Lundy's pillow, just as you instructed, and a clean uniform is hanging in the closet."

Joey stared into Lucia's eyes, well aware of the jealousy and or stimulus it might be causing his partner. "God, you are so delicious!" LaFiamma gasped, grabbing the petite woman her around the waist, lifting her to eye level.

Levon was amazed at what happened next. Astonished that Joe allowed it to happen in front of him. The sight of his lover kissing a woman had the opposite affect than he thought it would. Watching Lucia's tongue came out and teasingly striking Joe's lips, aroused him. Fresh out of surgery, he was getting a hard-on. Then Joe... Joe grabbed her buttocks and pulled her close. One hand on her head, one hand on her bottom, the kiss intensified until the short, blond woman moaned, her body jerking against the Marine holding her.

Slowly letting her slide to the floor, Joey's eyes were still only on her.

"How many times have I asked you to marry me, Joey? How many? I want your babies, damn it! When are you going to understand that the reason I haven't gotten married is because I'm in love with you. YOU!"

"Babe... Levon..."

"I know you love Lundy too. Hell, every Marine here knows he's your main squeeze now. I'll have his babies too if you want... I don't care if he is your lover... I don't care if you have ten lovers... it's you I want Captain. Marry me! Make me pregnant! Keep me pregnant! I want LaFiamma kids to raise. How are you going to pass on your traditions if you don't have kids?"

Joey stared into her fiery blue eyes.  _[I do want kids. Oh, god, woman, you don't know how I would love to take you up on your offer.]_  "I'd love to take you up on your offer, Lucia. But Levon would never stand..."

"Keep me out of this, LaFiamma," Lundy suddenly found himself saying. "Hell, I just got out of surgery and watching you two kiss - has given me the hard-on of the century."

Joey turned to his partner, gawking in disbelief.

"Joe - you got the chance to marry a beautiful woman, who obviously loves you very much... and will still let you and me be lovers... go for it. I know Aunt Teresa will be pleased as punch to get some grandkids out of her favorite nephew. I know I belong to you. I can see your love every time you look at me. I got a feeling every Marine here belongs to you. What was it you said when we first became intimate? Italians are hot lovers. It sometimes takes more than one to satisfy them. Well, partner, now you got two. Just don't bring in too many more, okay?"

LaFiamma looked from Levon to Lucia and back again. "Some how I have the feeling that I've been had." Joey said quietly.

"Oh you been had, boy," Levon said with a grin, "and we're gonna keep on having you."

"Okay, future Mrs. LaFiamma," Joey replied, "when this is over. When I am back to being a civilian... we will talk about how and when this will take place. Now - tell the Marines out there, except the one on the door to meet in the conference room. I want a report before I leave for the Marriott."

"Isn't your CV boss in there?"

"Yeah, and she's going to see this Marine kick some butt."

[][][][][]

"Estaban, what's going on around here?" Beaumont quizzed as the Hispanic detective walked into the room.

"Lieutenant, remember when the Feds practically closed us down when that radioactive rock was found," Estaban began, watching her nod in agreement, "Well... this security... these Marines... it's ten-fold."

"And that is all the man can say," Hummerstein said, coming in behind Sergeant Guieterrez, followed by several other men all dressed in fatigue pants and maroon shirts. "Captain LaFiamma will be in shortly. He will fill you in as much as he can before he leaves to take evidence for a court-martial."

[][][][][]

"God, Joe... I thought I would be jealous watching you two kiss... but feel me... if you got the chance... for kids... "

"I told you, Levon Lundy... you are mine. No one is going to displace you out of my bed... out of my life. God, I wish I had ordered protection for you last night."

"Joe, it wasn't your fault," Levon rasped slowly, his fingers wiping the tears off his partner, his lover's face. "The lights were off... they wouldn't have come in if I hadn't opened the door. Was... to anxious to see you. Love you so much."

"You're talking too much, partner," Joey said, leaning forward to plant a short kiss on his lover's swollen bottom lip. "Oh, cowboy... I love you so much. When Cardinal and Warsaw called Smith's suite to say that Paddock had taken you into the house... I was so frozen with rage... I couldn't move. The visions I was having weren't good."

"You were... were you..." Lundy's voice faltered, he had no problem watching Joe bring a woman to climax in front of his eyes, but in bed with a black man was something he couldn't fathom.

"Yes. I was in his bed. We were making love... while you were being raped," Joey admitted, watching a sadness cloud his partner's face.

"I thought I hated the man -- but when I saw him yesterday... everything we had ever done together rushed through me. I can't explain it, and I know you will never understand... the feelings I have for the man. I owe my life to him... just as I owe my life to you. But after one of my nightmares in his bed, our love making changed. The bond between us just grew. Seeing him yesterday was... was like Caroline suddenly appearing back in your life. I know you would want to be with her... but I also know you wouldn't be able to give me up."

"You know I ain't much for sharing, Joe. And sharing with Lucia is one thing... but a black man. I guess... guess I'll just have to learn to stand in line."

"Stand in line?"

"One of the Marines in the elevator said you were so beautiful, so sensuous... he wouldn't mind standing in line, if all he could have you for was one hour a year. That just being with you, having you touch him would be worth the wait. Ther' ain't no way I'm gonna let you go, LaFiamma. No way," Levon choked his throat raw from anesthetic, and talk.

"I know, partner," Joe replied, standing, looking down at the curly haired blond, "And I don't plan to let you go. You're under protective custody of the Marines... and will be for the next few days. There will be a Marine... a medic in here at all time... and one outside the door. We'll talk later tonight."

[][][][][]

Lieutenant Joanne Beaumont sat in the hospital conference room her hands around a Styrofoam cup filled with lukewarm coffee, feeling the eyes of nine Marines on her. She was just about to ask Estaban a question when she heard one of them say, "ATTENTION!" and the clicking of eighteen heels echoed around her. Joanne looked up to see LaFiamma walking toward them. She watched him stop half way down the hall to talk with a very petite woman with short blond hair, wearing a white navy uniform. The woman barely came up to Joe's shoulders.

"How many people did you beat up to get this assignment?" Joey asked Lucia quietly.

"Only one, and I told him when I got back I would be resigning because I would have a wedding to plan." Lucia answered with a smile.

"Pretty damn sure of yourself."

"When a woman is in love, she pulls out all stops. Once I found out where you were, I began my own investigation, Mr. Detective Sergeant. And, I knew if I could convince Levon that he was still safe with you, and you with him, that... well, I wasn't going to lose you again Captain."

Upon hearing the clicking of heels, Lucia whispered, "your men want to show your CV what you're really made of."

"Yeah, it's about time I started cracking the whip around here." Joey said, watching her tilt her chin up, he obliged with a quick kiss on the lips.  _[That should give those sword swallowers something to think about. Maybe I should start my own harem here.]_

[][][][][]

Briskly walking to the conference room, closing the door behind him, LaFiamma scanned the room, barely glancing in Beaumont's direction.

"SIR! May I remind the Captain that a chopper is standing by at the heliport to transport you to the Marriott? You need to be there in thirty minutes... Sir." Jake Hummerstein replied, his jaw tense, hoping he would not get the brunt of General Smith's anger if LaFiamma were late.

"All the evidence in here, including the tape that Lundy just made?" Joey questioned; nodding to the briefcase Hummer was carrying. Seeing a nod of approval, LaFiamma continued. "Report... Shadow."

"Searched Lundy's meadow for anything else PD may have dropped, nothing was found, Sir. The San Antonio Cowboy's son lives in Galveston, and both of them will be staying at the house to care for the place and the horse."

"Periwinkle?"

"Detailed report is there on the evidence found in Lundy's bedroom, and front porch. Fingerprint report included also. His... the... mattress, Captain, it needs to be incinerated... we need your permission. Replacement for it has already been found and will be delivered tomorrow. Sir. The room is being thoroughly cleaned, Sir."

"You have my permission to destroy the mattress, " Joey said quietly. "Reggie."

"We had a news copter hovering for a while. Called Houston Space and Hobby Airport that we were doing maneuvers and to designate his area a No-Fly zone for three days. The perimeter has been secured. Sir."

"Anything I need to know about before I leave? What about Lundy's protection here? HeySu?"

"Schedules have been made, Sir. Two on the door, a medic inside. Rotating schedule, four hours on, four hours off."

"Jingles? Trap? Any of you that are still in the Corps have any problems with staying through the week?"

"No, Sir, Captain," Jingles replied, speaking for the group around him. "For most of us, Sir... we printed out your Code Red alert. Took it to our C.O.s, explained that you were the Marine that allowed himself to be captured in Lebanon so the president's family who had taken a wrong turn could get away, and we were immediately assigned to you for TDY."

"You're the Marine they thought was dead and was carried home in a body bag!?" Lieutenant Beaumont gasped, raising to her feet. "Brad's brother - was one of the pilots in that chopper."

"SIT, LIEUTENANT!" Joey barked sharply, before the full thrust of her words hit him.

"Brad's brother... was one of the pilots?" LaFiamma answered in a barely audible croak, watching her fall back into her chair.

Slowly recovering his composure, Captain LaFiamma looked up and said, "You have a big mouth, soldier!"

"Sir, every man that has ever served with you is proud of the sacrifice you made to allow that family to get away."

"Sacrifice! You call what I did a sacrifice!?" LaFiamma yelped, boring his eyes through Shadow's skull. "Stupidity, that's what it was. I will be glad to give you the nightmares I have where I wake up screaming white as my sheets reliving the torture they put me through. You think Lundy is hurt bad? It's a piece of cake compared to what I went through for ten days! The assault team that rescued me, put me in a body bag because they couldn't find a pulse. I'm just damn lucky they didn't put me in the cargo hold! If I hadn't started sneezing from the cold, I would have been buried alive in some grave in Arlington!" Joey snapped, cutting his words short, upon seeing the reaction of his words on the faces of his men.

"I'm sorry... I apologize for that," LaFiamma replied quietly backing away from the conference table. "I just assume it was common knowledge about how I was found."

"No, Sir. We were just told... that... that you were alive. And would be hospitalized for a while." Jingles answered, swallowing, fighting back tears of remorse, thinking of the pain his Captain might have suffered.

A hint of a smile began to creep into the corner of the Italian's mouth. He realized his Colonel was right. All the men who answered the Code Red call came because they wanted to... not because they were ordered to. Joe heard Hummer remain him of the time as he looked down into the face of his civilian boss.

"Joanne..." LaFiamma began slowly, knowing he was going to be late for the court-martial, but also knowing they would not start without him. "As I told you before, I out rank you right now. Levon is the only live witness we have that can testify against a man who has killed at least one other person that we know of...and who put a very promising young Marine into a mental ward afraid of his own shadow. Later today... tomorrow... when I am able to. I will give you a written report... as much as I can tell you... about what is happening."

"Agreed, LaFiamma," Joanne Beaumont said seriously eyeing her new lieutenant. "If you're going to be taking over part of my duties, I guess I had better get use to backing off and letting you do them"

"Okay, you cub scouts hear this!" Joe barked, nodding to Hummer to be ready to move. "Starting at 0800 today, the uniform of the day is Charlies ... or - Blues C or D...these shirts you're wearing are fine for field training, and sports. BUT... do you want to show these red-necks what kind of Marines you really are... or what Girl Scout troop you're from?"

Coming to attention, they said in unison, "Marines, Sir!"

[][][][][]

Watching his lover leave the room, Levon reached behind him to fix his pillow and his fingers jammed into a paper object. Half turning in his bed, the Texan retrieved the large nine by twelve manila envelope. Curiously looking inside, he recognized some of the papers that Joe had had on his kitchen counter. Bypassing those, his fingers pulled out a smaller envelope marked, 'Attention: Captain Joseph A. LaFiamma.' It had a pentagon seal under the name. Levon didn't know why, but urgency in his gut told him Joe needed to know this before he left. Unwinding the string, Levon gingerly let the pictures inside along with a letter slide onto his lap.

The Marine on duty in the room hadn't really been paying much attention to what Lundy was doing until the man gasped in pain.

"OH MY GOD!" Levon gasped, looking up to see a Marine in his face. "Get LaFiamma in here quick!"

"Sir, he is just leaving for a court-martial."

"GET HIM IN HERE NOW! TELL HIM IT'S ABOUT HIS INCARCERATION IN LEBANON!" Levon yelled, shoving one of the photos into the man's face.

The Marine fell back, stunned... staring at his Captain, half-naked, chained to the floor.

"NOW, MARINE!" Levon shouted with such force that the guard on the door burst into the room to see what was happening.

[][][][][]

"If you don't have them with you, beg, borrow or... liberate one. No uniform... no hospital duty. Let's go Hummer... tell that copter to warm up." LaFiamma said turning toward the door which had already been opened for him. "One more thing... Estaban, Joanne... nothing said in this room... leaves this room."

"CAPTAIN, SIR?" The medic called, still visibly shaken by the photo he had seen, came to a running stop next to LaFiamma. "Sergeant Lundy... you need to see him right away!"

"I don't have time now." Joey said, his head turning half over his shoulder.

"Sir...you... he... pictures...of you in Lebanon... chained... sir!" The Marine gasped breathless unable to describe his feelings.

"WHAT!!?" Joey gasped, tilting his head forward, hearing but not believing what he had just been told.

"I... only saw one... there's pictures... a letter...I think you better come, Sir."

Joe turned to Hummer, "Call Gerald, tell him the Lab messed up some of the evidence and it has to be run again. Tell him I'll be late. Then come to Lundy's room."

Looking past Hummer's shoulder, Joe watched some top Marine brass getting off the elevator. "Find out what they want too."

Joe heard his name called as he hurried down the hall. Too much was happening, too much. He heard orders to 'stop' and still he proceeded down the hall, nodding to the Marines who opened the door for him.

"What do'ya got?" Joey asked, staring at the pile of photos on his partner's hospital bed.

[][][][][]

"You... Marine... go after that man!" A tall, thin, man with gray around his temples ordered.

Instead, the opposite happened. Beaumont and Estaban watched as a wall of nine Marines stretched across the hall blocking the passage of anyone including hospital personnel.

"That man disobeyed a direct order, gentlemen. You willing to take...." The man's whose nametag said Butterfield began.

"Only half the men you see here are in the Corps, General. And yes, everyone would stand in his place any day, anywhere. He's done that for us on more than one occasion." Shadow shot back.

"At the moment, Sergeant Lundy," Hummer began, only to be cut off sharply by Butterfield.

"I don't give a damned about what happened to some Houston cop! That officer disobeyed a direct Order!"

Joanne and Estaban stepped back into the shelter of the conference room as the nine Marines circled around the Pentagon brass.

"That Houston Cop!" Hummer continued his voice tight, "is Captain LaFiamma's detective partner! We are here to protect him... as well as Captain LaFiamma... and we don't give a damn what repercussions you or your office or the Pentagon does about it."

[][][][][]

"You're not going to like this, Joe. There's a letter here from someone at the Pentagon named Butterfield... and a stack of photos... all of them about you being tortured in Lebanon... just like you described to me... the letter gives an 800 number to call. The... the letter says they have proof that Smith orchestrated the whole thing."

"No way." Joey answered, staggering toward the wall, blown away by the information being revealed to him.

[][][][][]

"Captain LaFiamma has all the information in the packet we sent."

"The one Smith gave him... name and numbers of us... and Smith's Last Will and Testament."

"There was more in it than that. We put things in that General Smith knew nothing about."

"Well, if there is more, he hasn't had time to look. Paddock... ah, Lieutenant Paresley attacked Lundy late last night. LaFiamma's been a bit busy."

"Well, gentlemen, the information in the packet contains proof that General Smith, then Colonel Smith, not only orchestrated LaFiamma's capture, but gave instructions as to how he was to be tortured. We have learned your Captain is not the first Marine that this has happened to."

[][][][][]

"Three Pentagon brass got off the elevator when I started down here. I can smell them anywhere. I would bet one of them is Butterfield," Joey replied, shivers running through him as he moved to the chair next to Lundy's bed, to get a better look at the photos on the bed.

"God, I can't believe this," Joey replied, standing, he turned toward the door just as Hummerstein and Brigadier General Lance Butterfield walked in. Tired and worn out from no sleep, Joey was beginning to wish he hadn't volunteered so readily.

"So... explain this." Joey said to Butterfield, pointing to the photos strewn across Lundy's legs.

"We have hard-rock evidence, including a video, that your capture... how you were cut off from the presidential party... your torture... the tattoo... all were done at the direction of Colonel G.W. Smith. Our informant says you refused Smith of something... something he wanted... that he was furious with you. That he specifically told the President you were the man for the job, and than put together an elaborate ruse to trap you and teach you a lesson."

"Who's your informant?" Joey asked, figuring it had to be Gerald. He was the only man who knew Smith's every move.

"You know, I can't tell you that, Captain." Butterfield replied, raising an eyebrow.

"How did Gerald get this information?'" Joey persisted. Picking up the letter Levon had read to him, Joey continued, "This letter says there are videos tapes. What video tapes? Of Lebanon? You telling me the bastard... besides forcing me to have sex with him... also got his kicks out of watching me be tortured."

"You've had sex with him?" Butterfield croaked, leaning forward into LaFiamma's face.

"Every Marine that is here with me, plus half my unit was forced into a sexual liaison with him... and believe me, it was not our choice!" Joey said his voice tight, an anger moving through him hotter than what he felt when he learned Paddock had Lundy.

"Would they give us a statement?" Butterfield asked looking from Hummer to LaFiamma. "Not recorded. No action will be taken against them. We are merely trying to collaborate what our informant has told us."

"Hummer, ask them to come in." The Italian said quietly.

The Marines walked in slowly, some had already changed into their uniforms, and a few were still in fatigues. One by one they walked in, moving along the wall opposite Lundy's bed, glancing to their Captain, the brass, Hummer and back to their Captain. Joe began signing to them ... explaining what was going down... what was being requested.

Butterfield gave LaFiamma a questioning look. Joey answered the look. "We've been in some tight situations where even a whisper would have given us away. I never took a man out on any mission unless he had his sign language down pat."

One by one seven Marines explained what Smith wanted them to perform ... oral sex... with him or someone else, anal sex... with him or others, biting, slapping, all except Joe had felt Smith's wide black leather belt on their buttocks. Joe only explained a couple of the things he and Smith did, Levon knew it was more, much more. Then all eyes were of R.G. ... Reginald Gregory ... the third.

"Renegade?" LaFiamma asked quietly, moving across the room to stand next to the man. Something in how the man looked told Joe that R.G. had suffered more.

"Captain... I can't. I can't!" R.G. cried, bursting into tears.

Tenderly touching the man's shoulder, his thumb lightly pushing R.G.'s chin his way, Joe asked quietly, "Forget about them... just - tell - me."

"He... he bragged about having an aristocrat in his family of men. Just because I was named the third... he figured my family was somebody. You... you know I been trampled on all my life. There's... there's not even an R.G. the first in my family... my mother just thought it would sound good. When I was transferred into your Unit it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I learned things... languages... how to care for people... everyone told me you were the best... and they were right... you are."

"What about Smith?"

Only Levon seemed to notice that Joe's thumb was stroking down R.G.'s throat, or if they noticed, no one said anything.  _[I wonder if this guy will be a member of Joe's harem. He sure needs mothering.]_

"The... the first time...he wined and dined me... asking me if it was equal to him. I didn't tell him I didn't know a wine glass from a water glass. Later... he... he had me up against the wall, was trying to unbutton my shirt. I... I told him I wasn't that kind of man. He started laughing so hard, I thought he was going to collapse. He waved a wrinkled copy of the letter I wrote you. The... the one that was in the package you got when you were in Chicago."

"Wait a minute!" LaFiamma yelped, looking up at the eight men along the wall then back to R.G.

"Is this the package Smith sent? The one with the presidential letter in it?" Joey asked seriously. He saw some shocked looks on the faces of his men as they began to realize he had never received it. "The package was never delivered to me. I've never seen it."

"What! Where is it? We got to find it?" Renegade cried in a feverish tone. "When you were still in the hospital in Germany, Smith would... He... he's strong... he doesn't look it but he is. He grabbed me... threw me to the floor... kneeled on my back... grabbed my arms...I don't remember how...but I ended up shackled to a chair. My fly was open... my shirt open...a... a... OH, GOD, SIR! " Reggie cried out, grabbing LaFiamma around the shoulders, burying his black hair against his Captain's neck. "He... he showed me the video of you... being tortured.... Three times I had to watch it! Three times I heard you begging for your life! Every week I had to go to his place. Every time he'd read the words that were in the letter and he'd laugh. We got to find that package, Sir, we just got to!"

Straightening some, but not letting go of his Captain, Reggie sobbed between tears, "He told me that if I didn't do what he wanted... that would happen to me... that he could arrange anything. I... asked some of the other guys... if Smith had showed them his special video... none of them had seen it, or if they did, they didn't say so."

It was so quiet in the room, for a moment Joey wondered if anyone was even breathing. He pulled R.G. to him, cradling him in his arms, using the words his partner had said to him yesterday, Joey whispered, "It's okay... he's not going to hurt you anymore."

"Joe," the Houston cop totally forgotten by all by LaFiamma said. "I'll take care of R.G, you and your Marines got work to do."

Folding Reggie into the chair next to the bed, Joe smiled as he watched Levon's mother hen instinct take over.

"Okay, Butterfield, Smith talked me into ten days of TDY... tell me what is going down... and what we can do about it. Two questions first... Smith said he has cancer and could be dead next week... true or false. Question two - he left me a copy of his Will, which leaves me an estate but also says I have to do two weeks of duty at Quanto every year... true or false. And if true... why?"

Butterfield folded his arms across his chest one arm then reached up to his chin, the hand covering his mouth.  _[Everything I have read about this man is true. He is a rebel. His men are loyal to him to the end. He has been through hell, yet he covers his anger and is gentle as a lamb.]_

"Well, Captain... you will have to blame the two weeks at Quanto on the Marines. We did a survey a couple years back. Even though, covert operations aren't suppose to exist anymore, we all know they do. One of the questions on the survey was in regards to instructors... and how better to prepare men for the unexpected. Your name... was Number One on half the answers we got back. We even talked to some of the men who filled out the survey... we found out some things about you we didn't know. Don't worry they were all good," Butterfield said, watching the frown cross LaFiamma's face.

"When we heard that Smith was leaving his entire estate to you, including the house he had built here in Houston ..."

"Wait a minute! What house in Houston?" Joe questioned, surprised that Smith would be coming to Houston without him feeling the man's presence.

One of the other Pentagon brass that so far had said nothing, whispered into Butterfield's ear. "It's out near a place called Wild Flower Meadow..."

"Wild Flower Meadow? That's my land!" Lundy retorted loudly, his hand still stroking the shivering Reggie.

"Why would Smith build me a house? Why would he leave me anything? Why not leave it to his ex-wife, or aren't they on speaking terms?" Joe asked, getting more and more suspicious of his old Colonel.

"Wife?" General Brown quizzed, giving LaFiamma a questioning look. "Smith has never been married."

A murmur went around the room. "You saying he was never married? He gripped about his wife all the time. That she didn't understand the Corps. They got divorced after only a few years of marriage." Joey said, answering for every Marine in the room.

"Believe me, I have done a thorough check of George Washington Smith. He has never been married, or even engaged. Regarding your house - I would say he built it out of guilt. Probably for what he had put you through. Discovering you had suffered far more than he imagined you would. The three of us have seen the video R.G. mentioned. How Smith could watch it ... and know that he was responsible - is beyond us. Brown here was with him when the news came that you had been found. Smith collapsed when he heard you were being brought back in a body bag. He was in the hospital for three days. He didn't hear until later that you were alive, not by much, but alive."

"Does he have cancer? Yes. Will he die next week? No. Next month? I doubt it. He has a tumor that is inoperable. Doctors don't know when the end will come. Certainly not next week, or next month."

"What about Paddock?" Joe asked, looking at his watch, horrified to see it was going on eight o'clock. "Smith said Paddock was going to Leavenworth."

"That part is true. Leavenworth is expecting him... whenever... and in whatever shape you drop him off. And yes, Gerald is our informant. If you can get him out in one piece we would much appreciate it. General Smith, as of today, has been stripped of all rank. We have made our own arrangements for Smith. And you Captain - are a Major." Butterfield retorted, finishing his say by reaching into his pocket and pulling out two gold oak leave pins.

General Brown stepped forward, "We brought extras along. Just in case you hadn't found yours yet. Every instructor at Opes School is a Major or higher."

It was Lundy who said "ATTENTION!" Bringing Handsome's Marines to attention while the transfer of rank was bestowed.

Joey smiled back at Lundy, "Hey cowboy... you're learning fast." Looking back to the nine Marines around the room. "So, are Handsome's Hooligans ready to start kicking butt!"

"Yes Sir!" A unison cry went up, nodding and saluting Handsome, then the Generals.

"Now if you gentlemen don't mind leaving, I'd like to change into a fresh uniform before I meet Smith," Joey said, nodding to Butterfield.

"Shadow, Hummer and Wolf will go with me in the chopper to Smith's suite. R.G. will stay here with Levon. You can brief the rest on your ride over. Wolf has a sense... just have Jingles stand by the door and relay any messages... just tell him, he'll know what to do."

"Do any of your men have names, Major?" General Brown asked, noticing that none of these Marines worn name plates.

"Names?" Joey quizzed, not understanding the question.

Names. First names! Last names!

"Yes, sir. But... we have gotten so used to code names... I probably couldn't tell you their Christian names... Sir."

Joey walked to the closet next the Lundy's bathroom, opening it he found the fresh uniform he'd asked Lucia to bring from his apartment. Quickly he stripped to his underwear and redressed in the clean uniform.

R.G. was just about to make a comment when he heard Levon sigh. Looking at the Texan, Reggie whispered, "You love him too, don't you?"

Levon turned to the young man he'd been holding, love sickness was written all over his face.  _[I wonder if I look that bad when I want Joe.]_  "Yes, son, I love him too."

"When he was holding me... I didn't ever want to let go. If all he ever did was hold me... that would be good enough for me... just to have him hold me." R.G. whimpered, not taking his eyes off Joey.

"What are you two whispering about over there?" Joey asked, straightening his tie. "Damn I hate ties." Joey blustered, walking over to R.G. and allowing him to redo the tie, smiling into the eyes that had shared so much pain today.

"Levon..." Joey replied, moving on the edge of the bed, "Don't want you to worry now, you hear. I'll be well protected." Smiling down at his Texas lover, Joey bent low giving the cowboy a short sweet kiss on the lips.

"Joe..." Levon rasped, catching his breath, feeling the tender touch of his lover's lips on his mouth.

"What? Levon I don't have time for more," LaFiamma replied bending low over the blond, hearing him say that R.G. loved him. Snapping to attention staring from one to the other.

"You wrote a love letter to me, RG?" Joey quizzed, at once recognizing that lovesick forlorn look.

"Oh, yes, sir. I don't need any kissing or fucking. If you just hold me... like you did before... that's all I need. I know Lundy's your man. I don't want..." Reggie stopped, his Captain had backed him to the wall, so he waited. Waited for the lashing to come. Waited to be told to get lost. He wasn't at all prepared for the kiss his new Major gave him. As Lundy before him, Reggie slowly slid down the wall to the floor, his tongue licking the sweet taste of LaFiamma's mouth off his lips.

Moving toward the door, Joe paused just for a moment. "No one else better show up. Three in a harem is plenty in my book."

"From the Marines I've seen watching you, LaFiamma... I'd say we'd better make room for at least one more... maybe two."

His hand on the doorknob, Joey opened the door than paused, turning a stricken face to Lundy. "Levon - that house built by the meadow. Isn't that where we saw George Landon, the demolition expert, working with a crew one week?

Levon started, his eyes wide, "Yeah! He said he had rigged a house for someone who had built a complete house with furniture, dishes, beds, and everything. He wondered why the guy went to all the trouble if he was just going to blow the place?"

"See if Estaban can track him down. I want to know if there are safety devices. See if they can dismantle it. Call me at the hotel."

[][][][][]


	5. LaFiamma? A Marine - Part 5

Part Five

Disembarking from the chopper, which chose to drop down in the middle of traffic, the four Marines huddled for a moment, then walked at a fast clip into the Lobby of the Airport Marriott, stopping only for directions to the elevator that would take them closest to the Presidential Suite.

Heads turned as the Marines, dressed in the recognizable blue pants with red strip, tan shirts, and white hats, walked down the hall to the designated section of elevators.

Joe politely requested a couple who wanted to get on with them to take another car, explaining they could not discuss what needed to be said if civilians were on board. Just as they were about to board the car, a bellhop ran up with an urgent message for LaFiamma. Pointing to a courtesy phone on a nearby table, he was told he could take the call there.

"Lundy, what's up?" Joey listened, wondering how his injured partner could have found out this information so fast. But he had, and Joe listened. Listened to his partner tell him that LaFiamma's mother's dishes were in the house, along with some furniture that belonged to his parents. That everything was brand new. Landon had just been in conversation with a couple of his crew from that job that he hadn't seen in several months. He discovered that Smith wanted to implode the house on an old lover who didn't want him anymore. There was a pressure pad at the bottom of the basement steps.

"Can they deactivate it without the house going?" Joe asked, he loved his mother's dishes and didn't want to lose anything connected to her memory. "Call me in the Presidential Suite when it's done."

Hanging up the phone, Joe walked back to Hummer, Shadow and Wolf who were holding the elevator for him. Joe waited for the door to close and the elevator to begin to rise before he said, "Gentlemen... this is like any other mission. We don't know what's going to happen. We don't know what's gone down before we got here. We are going to take Paddock and get him out of the room first... but if we can't... we will take them both down together. Shadow... I want you to stay as close to Gerald as you can without being obvious. Wolf, you're on the inside door. Hummer... as always, you're loose. Remember gentlemen ... if I need protection, you damn well better be there! If not, I own each and every one of you for life!"

[][][][][]

"Levon, I have to put out the call. Need to let the others know that Handsome never got the package we made up. We've been wondering why he hasn't said anything. Now I know. But if I put it out over the beepers than everyone, even Smith will see the message. I can't very well call Gerald, can I? Ask him to put it out over the network."

Levon shifted in his bed, grimacing, finally understanding full well his Grandmother Minnie's complaints after her hemorrhoid surgery. "I think Gerald would do it, if you call after LaFiamma is in the room. But you might put it over your beeper system too."

[][][][][]

Hummer, Wolf and Shadow jumped simultaneously as their small pocket beepers let out a low hum. The men reached into their various pockets and pulled out beepers smaller than a cigarette pack.

"What is it?" Joey quizzed turning to look at the men as the elevator stopped on the sixth floor.

They looked at each other than at their new Major. "It's about you not receiving the package in Chicago. Must be R.G.," Hummer replied, "he's the only one of us not with you or General Butterfield.

Joey and his Marines stepped off the elevator and started walking toward the Presidential Suite at the end of the hall. Three doors from the Suite a door opened on LaFiamma's left, the man who stepped out stopped Joe in his tracks.

"Admiral? What the hell are you doing here?" Joey gasped looking into the gaunt face of a man several years his senior with gray hair and glasses.

"Need a favor, Joe." The man answered, his eyes scanning the men standing behind LaFiamma.

"Admiral, the last favor I did for you I ended up in the hospital for a week." Joey reiterated giving the man the eye. "Don't worry, these three can be trusted or they won't be here."

"One of these are not who you think he is," Admiral John Thomas English said, stepping closer to Joe.

"You mean Hummer?" Joey asked, a smile turning up the corner of his mouth as he heard the man gasp behind him.

"I've known for years that he is with Internal Affairs, Intelligence or whatever you call it now days. I must have been one hell of a rebel in OCS to assign a full-time detective to try to keep me in line," LaFiamma replied sarcasm in his voice.

"Sir, that's not why I was there," Hummer whispered softly.

"Actually, he was assigned shortly after your Uncle Mikey..."

"Uncle Mikey! What does he have to do with this?" LaFiamma groused, as two men from inside the room motioned them all to come in out of the hall.

"You complained to your uncle about some big black Colonel forcing sexual favors on you and your men. He called someone in the Pentagon." Admiral English replied, wondering from the expression on the Major's face whether it was worthwhile to continue.

"You telling me... that you've known about Smith and his dirty deeds all these years and have never done anything about it!" Joey screeched, anger thick in his voice.

"We've known... just haven't had any evidence. No one would come forward. And after Hummer got us a copy of the video of your torture... we knew no one would."

"Copy ... of the ... video!?"

"We don't know how many he showed the video to, but we do know that once you were back on duty, complaints about him dried up."

Spinning on his heel, his eyes blazing, Joey faced Hummer, the one Marine out of his whole unit that he had always trusted was turning out to be someone he was not. "HOW many have seen it?" Joe said tightly, his eyes staring into the hazel brown eyes of Jake Hummerstein.

"'bout twenty-five that I know of, Sir," Jake replied in a barely audible voice. "Most all the ones that answered the Code Red."

Resignation in his voice, Joe turned back to English. "Can we get this over with Admiral? I've been on my feet since yesterday morning and I'm not sure how much longer I can last. I still have a long day ahead of me. I would appreciate it if you would contact Sal Dillard of the 41st Combat Support... I have a feeling I may need his expertise before this morning is done."

[][][][][]

LaFiamma stared at the placard 'PRESIDENTIAL SUITE ...602-'. His hand stopped in mid-air as he prepared to knock. Turning he grabbed Hummer roughly by the shoulders and pushed him up against the opposite wall. In spite of the mike taped to his chest, Joey growled, "If anything happens to me in there, Hummer ... I don't care if you are married ... if you got ten lovers ... I will own you! From the top of your head to your toes and all parts in-between."

"Nothing will happen, Sir." Hummerstein gasped, the power behind the shove surprising him.

LaFiamma turned and knocked on the fancy double doors of the Presidential Suite. Hearing the phone ring inside he figured it would be a wait before someone opened the door, but instantly Warsaw was there. Noticing the beads of sweat on his Polish friend's forehead, Joey did not immediately walk in. "Is it hot in here?" Joe asked quietly.

"It is hotter than hell, Sir. He's been ranting since Hummer's call that you would be late," Warsaw replied stepping aside.

"What about Paddock?" Joe asked, still not venturing inside.

"He stripped Paresley to the buff. Has him up on some kind of trapeze he's rigged. As I said, Sir. It is hell in here."

"Okay, gentlemen ... we're on!" Joe said, boldly striding into the suite. His eyes scanned the room. General Swietoniowski, Mrs. Riley and Caribbean were seated at a round table off to his right. Gerald was behind them at the drink bar. At ease on his right were three very nervous Marines, Warsaw, Cardinal and Mikey.

Barely turning his head in Shadow's direction, Joe spoke quietly has he removed his hat. "Get Gerald from there to General Swietoniowski. Tell him he is to leave with the General."

"I'll do my best, Sir." Shadow replied wondering how he was going to do it.

Louder this time, Joe said, "I don't want you to do your best! I want you to do it!"

"Wolf, hang onto that briefcase. Don't give it to anyone other than me or Admiral English ... you understand?" LaFiamma remarked as he turned toward Smith.

"Yes, Sir!" The Wolf replied, taking his position just inside the closed doors.

"WELL, JOSEPH! WHAT HAS TAKEN YOU SO LONG?" Smitty blared coming towards him. "LET ME LOOK AT THE EVIDENCE. I WANT TO REVIEW IT BEFORE IT IS PRESENTED."

Joey couldn't help it, but he started laughing. "To hell with Paddock," he mumbled into the mike, "Let's just go for the throat." But he didn't. He ignored the man and walked over to Mrs. Riley, talking with her and Caribbean, telling them to take Gerald with them when they left. He asked to see the drawing that he was told Mrs. Riley had made that she wanted tattooed or painted on Paddock's buttocks.

Joe watched as she unfolded a piece of paper in front of her, then handed it to him. His eyebrow lifted, a smile crossed his face. "This is what you want? Caribbean, you agree?" Joe watched them both nod. "And the ink for it?"

"Behind the counter," came the reply, "black for the buttocks, red for the cock."

Joey looked at the paper again. A very artistic buttocks had been drawn with the words 'I'm Hungry' on one cheek, and 'Feed Me' on the other. The cock was enlarged with splashes of red. LaFiamma refolded the paper and put it into his shirt pocket.

Ruffling through her papers, Mrs. Riley became the diversion to get Gerald out of the room. Standing, her hands going through her pockets, then to her purse, she called Gerald to her side, telling him she had left some very important evidence in her room. Handing him the key, she explained where it would be located.

As Gerry moved to the door, he gave LaFiamma a wry look. Joey just grinned and nodded. Wolf opened the door as the redhead approached. "You're free, man, don't come back," he whispered under his breath.

"JOSEPH!" Smith raged from behind him, "I WANT THIS EVIDENCE BAG!"

"Sorry, Colonel, you are not one of the people authorized to have it." Major LaFiamma said firmly, as he shook hands with General Swietoniowski.

"Major LaFiamma," General Swietoniowski remarked, moving with Mrs. Riley and Caribbean towards the door, "They are all yours."

Smith stared as his JAG judges left the room. "YOU BEHIND SOME CONSPIRACY TO SET ME UP, LAFIAMMA? WELL, LET ME TELL YOU, YOU WON'T SUCCEED! BETTER MEN THEN YOU HAVE TRIED AND FAILED!"

"Go over there and sit down," Joe replied tightly, pointing to one of the chairs just vacated at the round table.

"I AM GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON SMITH..."

"YOU ARE NOTHING!" Major LaFiamma roared into the black man's face. "YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE A RANK ANYMORE! NOW SIT!"

Turning his attention to the three Marines, Joey said, "Take your shirts off." He watched as Cardinal and Mikey began to unbutton theirs but Warsaw just stood there.

Stepping closer to the Pollock, Joey repeated, "Take your shirt off! This IS an order; not an option!"

"Handsome... I'd..." the words caught in his throat as his Major began to unbutton his shirt.

Joey had barely opened the tan shirt when he saw the scar. His head jerked up, his face, his voice serious. "Heart surgery?"

"Had a growth removed, Sir. It was benign. I ... I knew you won't ask me to come ... if you knew. And ... I ... I wanted to be in on it. Whatever it was going to be." The Polish officer said, his chin falling to his chest.

"Button your shirt, Jonathan, and get out of here." Joe said taking a step back.

"BUT... I saw the design that Mrs. Riley had. I'm - a graphics designer now. I can do a better job than Shadow." Warsaw stammered, looking up into the concerned face of his superior.

"Shadow already blew the job I gave him to do...okay ... but that is the ONLY thing you are here for, understand." Joey smiled as Warsaw buttoned up his shirt. Taking the folded paper he had been given by Betty Sue's mother, Major LaFiamma handed it to the Minnesota man. "The ink is on the counter. Let me know when you're done, and we will get to phase two of Mr. Paddock."

LaFiamma moved to Cardinal, looked him over and told him to put his shirt back on. Moving to Mikey, he immediately saw what he was looking for... scars on the man's shoulder made by human teeth. This is the man Betty Sue had taken a bite out of.

"Interesting scar you have there, Marine," Major LaFiamma asked, "Did Betty Sue bite you here when Paddock grabbed her from behind? Or was it one of the last things she did before she died?"

The room hushed. Even the breathing seemed to stop, as Handsome's Marines came to realize that someone they trusted was an informant for someone they hated.

"It was an accid... I mean..." Mikey stammered, swallowing under the stern scrutiny of LaFiamma.

"You mean you weren't even around when she was snatched, right?" Joey replied evenly, watching the man squirm.

"Got news for you, Mikey. The Marines you bribed to say you were with them decided your money wasn't worth spending time in jail. Did you know that your skin ... the blood tissues ... have a certain DNA? You didn't, did you?" Joe watched the sweat start to drip down Mikey's face.

"Look, Paddock just said he wanted to go out with her... I didn't know what he was going to do. Honest." Mikey answered shifting uneasy as trickles of sweat ran down his back.

"You're done, Mikey. Cooked! Your Marine buddies ... the ones you keep paying to say you're with them. They've been giving all kinds of dates to the Intelligence investigators. You can forget about any plans you have." Joey looked at his watch for a moment before continuing. In just a few minutes, Sal Dillard, Betty's fiancé will be here. I'm turning you over to him, and when he's done with you ... they are going to throw away the key!'

"Shadow, escort this man out." Joe said as he turned to take a good look at Paddock.

"Sir?" Shadow asked, confused, as far as he knew no one was outside the door.

"DAMN, what is wrong with you Marines? Do I have to do everything myself?!" LaFiamma blasted, turning back to Mikey he grabbed the man by the elbow and walked him to the door. Furiously opening one of the double doors, Joe thrust the man into the waiting arms of two MP's. With the door still half-open, Joe turned to Shadow, "You! Out! Now! NOW!!"

Shadow looked at his Major's unwavering eyes as he walked past him and into the hallway. A shiver went down his back as the door slammed behind him. Twice in an hour he had failed. Would his Major ever want to touch him after today? Would his Major forgive him?

Taking in a long breath and letting it out slow, Joey turned back to the situation at hand. "Cardinal, take PD's blindfold off, and the gag out. How you doing, graphics designer?"

"Got one side done, Handsome. Looks pretty good too. How we going to do the red part?" Jonathan asked rolling back on his heels to look at the words, in a script , -I'm hungry! - he had written on Paddock's left butt-cheek.

"Going to start on that right now, so you better get finished. Hmmm... I wonder... how do you seduce a rapist?"

"Got any ideas, Smitty? This should be right up your alley. Every man you've ever had you raped in one way or another."

"I don't know what you game is LaFiamma. This is not what I had in mind at all. This man deserves torture!" G.W. Smith lambasted, rising from his chair.

"Ah ... torture. Is that like the torture you had done to me?" LaFiamma questioned, zeroing his full attention to his old lover. "Pre-arranged, wasn't it? You even had videos made up to keep my men in line, didn't you? Forced them to watch it! Told them if they didn't do what you wanted the same thing could happen to them ... am I right so far, Smitty?"

"You --- you deserved it! I gave you an order and you refused me!" Smith bellowed defiantly.

"I don't recall any order of yours I ever refused," Joe replied cocking his head to the side.

"You ... you never gave yourself fully to me. You ... never allowed me in your ass! Never! Even when I drugged your drink ... tied you to the bed ... your body refused me!" Smith shouted at LaFiamma. "I've never forgiven you for that, Joseph. I've fucked the asses of half of your elite Marines ... but not yours!"

"So you set up the thing in Lebanon. Had me captured ... beaten --urinated on ... kicked? Tied to the floor to have spiders and cockroaches' crawl across me like I was a piece of trash?"

Joey waited, when no answer came he asked the question that had bothered him for years. "Why the tattoo?"

"Why? You wouldn't give me your ass ... so I took your cock. I took your cock and made it mine! My design ... etched on your penis for life," Smith said smiling, his eyes glowing with excitement.

"It goes every where with you. Even when you refused me, I could turn you over and finger my handiwork. You should see the video I have, Joseph ... the close-ups of the detail of that tattoo. It is very intricate. My greatest satisfaction with you Major was spiking your drink and waiting for you to wake up and find yourself tied to my bed. When I received the call that you'd been captured, I faxed them a copy of what I wanted. They told me any man would be brought to his knees by the pain of the tattoo needles ... and I wanted you on your knees LaFiamma ... on your knees!"

Joey stared at the man, his body rigid. All this happened because he didn't allow this black dude's cock into his ass?

"Why build a house and rig it to explode?" The Italian finally asked quietly.

"So you have discovered the explosives, have you? Well, it won't do any good. I hired the best in the business," Smith stopped talking, his eyes boring holes into the Marine opposite him. "You allowed me to comfort you when you returned from Lebanon. But you still didn't allow me to have you. When you didn't re-enlist, I vowed to take you to the death. I spent a lot of time and money building that house. It will be worth all the effort when it goes." Smith said stepping closer, a move that totally unhinged Hummer. Jake realized he'd never make it to his Major's side in time to deflect a blow.

"Basement is being dismantled," Joe replied matter-of-factly. "You're right, you did hire the best crew in the area. But, someone from that crew overhead a conversation of yours about the thrill of taking someone to hell when the house blows. So they built some safeguards into, and started an investigation of their own. They didn't want to be responsible for murder."

"WHAT?" Smith screamed at the top of his lungs, shoving Joey backwards, his signet ring catching on Joey's tan Marine issue shirt.

Joe staggered at the force of the unexpected blow to his shoulder, his shirt ripping open when Smith pulled his arm back. Anger seethed through Smith's nostrils at the sight of the hidden microphone taped to Joe's well-muscled bare chest.

"YOU'RE WIRED! YOU DARE TO COME IN HERE WIRED! I'LL KILL YOU, YOU BASTARD!" Smith lunged for LaFiamma

[][][][][]

In the Admiral's room, the man with the headphones popped them off. "LAFIAMMA'S BEEN MADE! GET IN THERE! QUICK!"

[][][][][]

Hummer sprinted across the room, shouting for Wolf and Cardinal. They watched helplessly as Smith hit Joe in the middle of the chest, blood splattering them and Smith as the microphone grounded through flesh, lodging against bone.

The double doors of the Suite burst open. Joe's rolling unconscious body momentarily cut off the entry of Butterfield and his military police. In seconds, they recovered, shouting orders for the medics on standby in the hallway, jumping over the Italian to subdue and handcuff Smith.

Sal Dillard was the first to arrive. Staring at Joey on the floor in front of him he yelled over his shoulder for Jody. Dropping to his knees next to his fallen friend, Sal did a quick assessment.  _[Oh Lord, don't take this man. He's too good. Too good.]_

"Joe? Joe?" Sal repeated softly, as he checked the pulse in Joe's neck. Looking at his fellow medic, Sal said, "get him on the backboard. Tell our chopper they are landing in the street."

Springing to his feet, Sal verbally and physically attacked Jake Hummerstein. Shoving the man backwards, Sal shouted, "DAMN ... YOU - HUMMER! HE ... TOLD ... ME ... YOU WERE THE BEST! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT HIM! YOU WERE HERE TO PROTECT HIM!"

It was General Butterfield who backed Dillard off, telling him to get back to his patient, and to keep him posted.

His eyes stern and menacing, Butterfield turned to Wolf, Cardinal and Hummer. "Finish up with Paresley. When you are done, knock on the door. It will be opened, and Paddock will be transported to Leavenworth. Then gentlemen ... You will tell me and Admiral English what went down in here and WHY you did nothing to protect Major LaFiamma."

[][][][][]


	6. LaFiamma? A Marine? - Part 6

Part Six

Lundy was sleeping and R.G. was leaning against the wall when Lucia walked in with news about Joey being injured. She motioned R.G. to come to the door, but when the chick was beyond the mother hen's touch, Levon was immediately awake.

"What's going on?" The blond detective asked sleepily. "Joe okay." Looking at Lucia's tear streaked face, Levon already knew the answer. "How bad?" he asked quietly, pulling himself to a sitting position.

"I ... I don't know. I was in the Emergency Room when the chopper was taking off from the Marriott on its way here. They said an officer had been injured and asked for Doctor Baker. Patient's name... LaFiamma." Lucia sniffled, walking into the room, to the table next to Levon's bed for some tissue.

"Oh, Levon!" She wailed, sitting on the edge of his bed. For the second time that day, Levon found himself comforting one of his partner's lovers. The blond had the feeling that if Joe walked in the room, he wouldn't like what he was seeing one bit.

[][][][][]

"Okay, boss, I'm done with the butt," Warsaw said standing. Looking around the room, he asked, "where's LaFiamma?"

"God ... Pollock, don't you know what just went down here?" Cardinal shouted, totally frustrated with what had happened this morning.

"When I'm concentrating on a job, the world could explode and I wouldn't know about it until I'm done. Why ... what happened?"

Wolf looked at Hummer than back to Warsaw. "Smith attacked Handsome, the medics took him to the hospital. The military police took Smith away. Hummer's in hot water because his job was to protect LaFiamma... and he didn't. General Butterfield ordered us to finish Paddock."

"Well," Jon began, "now is the time to get your frustrations out. Make this man hard so I can finish up what Handsome gave me to do."

"Hummer? Aren't you going to join in?" Jonathan asked, turning to watch Cardinal and Wolf pinch, prod, bite and lick. "Just make him hard enough so I can dust him lightly with this red, no wash-off, no wear-off ink that Mrs. Riley brought."

Instructing Hummer to get a bath towel, Warsaw asked Cardinal and Wolf to each hold a side, telling them to be very careful because this red ink would be on them for life. Then kneeling in front of Paddock, Jonathon cautiously unscrewed the cap and lifted the small brush out of the bottle. Ever so lightly he tapped the brush allowing the red ink to gently splatter over the cock. Taking the brush, he began to make an intricate design around and across the head.

Even Parsley was intrigued by the delicate brush strokes, sweeping here and there around the cock, until Warsaw words sunk into him. "No! Nooo! What are you doing?" Paddock muttered, struggling against his restraints. "You ... you can't do this! Every time I go in someone they will think...! Nooo!"

"What's the matter? The sight of blood that don't wash off bother you?" Cardinal chided, moving away from the man.

Wolf folded up the towel and tossed it onto the round table as he walked to the door. He stood silently at the door as the MP's took off Paddock's restraints, handcuffed the man and asked for his clothes. When the military police were told he was delivered that way, they instructed Hummer to look through Smith's clothes for some pants.

[][][][][]

Wolf, Warsaw and Cardinal paced in the hallway outside the Presidential Suite. They each had had their turn with General Butterfield and Admiral English. Now they feared for Hummer, who was alone with the two officers. Loud, angry voices could be heard coming from behind the double doors.

Hummer heard the words that were assailing him, but what he saw was his Major flat out on the floor ... lifeless. He'd never failed him before, never.

"I blew it," Hummer mumbled through a trembling lip. "I-I'm used to combat ... not this. I never figured Smith would... I've never failed LaFiamma before. Never! I just blew it." Jake Hummerstein replied, grabbing onto his hands to keep them from shaking.

Admiral English gently took Jake by the shoulders.

"Ever since he pulled me out of that muck field in Cuba, I've never failed seeing an attack that was coming his way. Never failed to alert him when I saw he was going to be blind-sided. He's the best officer I've ever served under...." Hummer rasped his voice trembling.

"You're still his protector, son. None of us can protect each other one hundred percent. It's just not possible. Major LaFiamma misjudged Smith; we all did. If you had been closer Smith might have gotten you too." English said quietly.

"I'd rather it was me, sir. LaFiamma's been through hell because of Smith. There were times when we would see Smith walking toward the barracks and everyone would hide. And the Captain, Sir... the Major... LaFiamma would meet him at the door and say that everyone was out. And... and Smith would... would take him and he'd go in our place. Sometimes he'd come back bleeding... sometimes he wouldn't come back till morning, and we'd stay up all night worrying about him. I-I don't know what you're going to do with Smith ... but I hope you put him in a hole and throw away the key."

"Would you like to be permanently assigned to Major LaFiamma?" General Butterfield asked quietly, aghast at the revelation that was being confided to him and English.

"It is a decision that we are contemplating. That you and Shadow be permanently assigned to him. That decision hasn't been made yet. LaFiamma's experiences, how he deals with people, his aptitude for staying alive ... we need that expertise. His knowledge may keep another Marine alive. If two weeks out of every year is all we can get, than I want to make sure he is around to be there." Butterfield said evenly, looking into the hurt filled eyes of Master Sergeant Jake Hummerstein.

"I'm not sure LaFiamma will appreciate us baby-sitting him, Sir." Hummer ventured.

[][][][][]

In a corner of the Recovery Room, Joey LaFiamma slowly regained his senses casually blinking his eyes to get accustomed to the subdued lighting. He had an eerie feeling that he was back on board the carrier and that all his remembrances of Lundy and Houston were just a dream. When a nurse touched his shoulder and addressed him as Major LaFiamma he began to relax. When Smith had shoved him, Joe had had the awful feeling that the whole thing was a setup. A setup to get him back into Smith's bed for life.

"Hey, Doctor Who," LaFiamma's gravely voice croaked, "the lighting gave me a scare ... thought we were back on board for a minute."

"I had a feeling you might have a flashback to that, so put you off to the side. Maybe that wasn't a good idea," Baker who was still in surgical scrubs replied. "How you feeling?"

"Like I was run over by a truck. Make that a couple of trucks. Ribs hurt ... what happened?" Joey rasped sleepily.

"Smith hit you, shoving that mike you were wearing into your ribs right about here," the former Navy doctor answered, lightly touching the middle of Joe's chest. "Took some doing to get it out but..."

"BUT... I hate those buts, doc."

"But ... that was the easy part. The toughest part is yet to come. You've got a bruise forming, about the size of my hand. It spreads across your ribs on both sides. Your rib muscles, tendon took the brunt of the force." Doctor Baker explained, again lightly touching Joe's chest so the man could feel the extent of his injury.

"You're telling me," Joey whispered, a half smile on his sleepy face, "that it's going to hurt to turn around ... hurt to breath ... hurt to move my arms. Can't you give me any good news?"

"Good news is your physical health kept your ribs from breaking, and you're alive. You got nine Marines and half the cops in the city pacing the floor upstairs bugging the nurses to death about your condition."

"You still got contacts in the Navy, Doc?"

"Some, why?"

"Don't know. Just this gut feeling that this whole operation wasn't on the up-and-up. General Butterfield or whoever he is doesn't always answer to being called Butterfield. Admiral English, I remember meeting him. Just don't want my Marines to get in trouble over some Intelligence fiasco, know what I mean?"

"I'll check it out, Joe. We get enough military personnel through here for me to see know some people. I noticed too, that one of the men with General Butterfield called him by another name when they were alone. I know a couple of people I can call. Go back to sleep, we'll be moving you back upstairs soon."

Walking to the Recovery Room nurses station, Doctor Who overhead several nurses talking about LaFiamma, wondering what kind of macho Marine he must be to have designs tattooed on his penis. Baker set them straight, immediately, informing them just how those designs came about.

Doctor Baker looked at the male and female nurses standing around him, "Don't ever make fun or pre-judge anyone until you know where they have walked! I was Chief Medical Officer on the carrier he was deposited on. That man went through hell and was barely alive when he was found. He still limps because of how they had him tied down. And as much as he'd like to forget about what happened ... every time he steps out of the shower he has a reminder that someone hated him enough to disfigure him that way."

[][][][][]

Marines and Houston cops hurdled in the hallway and in Sergeant Levon Lundy's hospital room waiting for word on their fallen comrade. Levon had heard three different accounts of what went down at the Marriott and still he wasn't sure if he knew. The Texan didn't know if the group ostracized Hummer for failing to keep Joe from being hit or if it was self-imposed. But as the Marine stood by himself just inside the door, the detective was keenly aware of the pain the man felt, because he had felt that same pain himself.

[][][][][]

"Damn, Levon," Sergeant Estaban Gutierrez groused, pacing, "it's been five hours since they brought Joe in. They should know something by now."

Suddenly Wolf, growled, "I can't just stand around here not knowing anything! I'm going for a walk. All I see is him - laying on the floor bleeding. I got to get out of here."

"I know... it's my fault. I never failed to warn him before. I just ... just didn't see it coming. Didn't think Smith would go after him." Hummer wailed choking back the tears.

For the first time since they arrived Wolf and Shadow were aware of the pain their fellow Marine was in, deep pain. "It wasn't your fault, Hummer." They said in unison quickly walking to his side. "None of us expected Smith to go after him."

"I - I'm used to combat. Not this... man ... he's not ever going to forgive me," Hummer moaned sorrowfully.

[][][][][]

Hummer leaned against the wall staring at the figure on the bed in front of him. Joseph A. LaFiamma, Major, USMC, lay sleeping under tented sheets, small thin plastic oxygen tubes going into his nose.

[Oh, god, sir, I'm sorry! I'm sorry!] Hummer's pain was acute. In combat he would have known what to do ... how to react. But this morning, in the hotel, never in his wildest dreams would he have thought General Smith would go after LaFiamma. [This man pulled me out of muck when I was trapped up to my waist. Never a thought that we both could lose. He's told me I did great when I was really lousy. Oh god, sir, forgive me, forgive me!]

When Doctor Baker had come into Lundy's room and explained Joe's injury, Hummer had almost lost it. The mike taped to LaFiamma's chest had been pushed through the skin and had become lodged between his fourth and fifth rib. It had taken some delicate surgery to get the pieces and the wire out. Baker gave no indication as to how long Joe would be in the hospital. What hurt Hummer the most was the explanation of the pain LaFiamma was going to be feeling as he recovered -- his ribs, chest muscles, tendons were badly bruised by the blow. Every time he turned, or raised his arms he was going to be in pain. It would be a long time before he was out running again, or weight lifting.

[][][][][]

Joey became aware of someone in the room, and he knew it wasn't Levon. Levon wouldn't have been allowed up yet. Half opening his eyes against the soft light above him, LaFiamma was surprised to see Hummer leaning up against the wall opposite his bed.

"Hummer?" Joey rasped fighting to become more aware, seeing the distress his Marine was under. "You all right? Anybody else hurt?"

"Oh god, Sir!" Hummerstein wailed, walking to the end of the hospital bed. "I'm sorry. I am. I ... I was suppose to protect you. I was suppose to ... forgive me, please forgive me!"

"Jake!" Joey rasped sternly his throat raw from anesthetic. Joey watched Hummer's face change, he had probably only called him by his given name once before.

"There is nothing to forgive. You did your job. None of us knew what was going down. We were going in blind. Don't let this tear you up, please." Joey pleaded, holding his hand out to the man.

Hummer grabbed hold of the hand and hung on, using his foot to bring the hard-backed chair next to the bed. Placing Joe's hand against his tear-streaked cheek, Jake continued his ramblings. "I love you so much, sir. Ever since you pulled me out of that muck in Cuba. You risked your own life to save me. Nobody's ever done that before. The way you hugged me when I was free. That ... that was the first time in my life I was ever hugged. My parents ... nobody in my family ever touched each other. I haven't even been kissed. Not ever ... by anyone."

Joey momentarily closed his eyes, letting all that Hummer was telling him sink into his foggy drugged brain. [The harem is growing. A virgin yet. Who would have guessed.]

"I know I'm far down on the list of those who love you ... of those who have already shared your bed. And ... I don't care if I ever get that far ... just don't send me away. Butterfield wants Shadow and I to be permanently assigned to you. I know Shadow is head over heels in love with you. Has been ever since you took him to your bed on that fiasco in Brazil. He said ... he said it was so wonderful that ... that he's been celibate ever since because he said nothing would compare to those two nights."

"Celibate? He's had no one ... man or woman?" [Harem makes what ... Levon, Lucia, R.G., and Hummer, now Shadow? I ain't plumbed for this.]

"I know he's had offers. He's turned them all done."

"You are wonderful, Jake Hummerstein. Truly wonderful," Joey replied softly, fighting to stay awake. Staring up at his hand still plastered to the side of Hummer's face, Joey slowly, cautiously, moved his fingers down to Jake's mouth. Tenderly Italian fingers stroked across the bottom lip. As Hummer's mouth dropped open, those fingers reached inside to stroke the tongue. "Kiss me, Jake," Joey whispered huskily. "Please, I've wanted you for a long time. Never thought you liked me. Just a kiss, please."

Keeping his arms to his side so he won't hurt Joe, Hummer moved forward drawn by the desire burning inside him. LaFiamma's hand moved from the face to the black curly head of hair, forcing the lips he had so long desired closer. Finally capturing the willing wanting open mouth of Jake Hummerstein, LaFiamma's tongue found its mark and began the assault. Jake's first kiss was intense as Joe's tongue gently stroked the roof of Hummer's mouth, played tag with the man's tongue, teasingly attacked the gums. Jake's whole body quivered. His legs jerked. Moans of pleasure escaped through the corners of his mouth. [Shadow's right. There's nothing like it. Nothing at all.]

A noise in the hall alerted Joe, and he relinquished the mouth he had desired. Smiling to himself, he watched Hummer slide out of the chair and onto the floor. He hoped those that entered the room didn't smell the semen that floated in the air.

[][][][][]

The smell of hot coffee woke the Texan. [Another day in the damn hospital.] He hated hospitals. And this time was worse because his partner was also a patient and he couldn't see him, nor get any information about him.

Hummer huddled with Shadow in the hall outside Lundy's door. The Texan could just make them out. The blond had never seen Hummer so excited. He was surprised when Shadow started laughing and pulled the bigger man in for a hug. Suddenly Levon felt the odd man out. I'm the one that is going to be standing in line, he thought. [Hummer, R.G., Lucia, Shadow, me. How many others are out there?]

Levon turned back to the half open door. He thought he had heard Joe's voice, but knew that was impossible. Still he saw the surprised faces of Shadow and Hummer as they came to attention, saluting whoever it was that was outside the door.

"LaFiamma! What the hell you doing out of bed?" Levon roared as his partner edge slowly into the room, closing the door behind him.

"Coming to see you, what else!" Joey answered with a grin.

Levon watched his partner, his lover move. He could see pain and love in Joe's eyes, and he knew their love was strong in spite of everything that had gone down of the last few days. "You don't have to be here," Levon remarked, touched to the core that his partner would make the effort to be here.

"The doctor know you're here?"

"Told the nurses I was coming with or without their help. Know you been asking questions about me. Had to see you. Let you know I'm okay." Joey said through gritted teeth.

"You don't look okay. Fact you look like you're going to pass out any second. HUMMER!"

Jake Hummerstein burst through the door with such force that the door bounced back against his shoulder. "Sir?"

"LaFiamma got a wheelchair out there? Get it."

[][][][][]

Three days later, Levon was discharged, ordered home on medical leave. He had heard Hummer and R.G. discussing Shadow's role or non-role in Smith's room. The group knew that any other officer would have turned Shadow in for not pulling his weight. No one knew why the Major hadn't asked to see Shadow since the man had been ordered out of Smith's suite.

"Did you ever think?" Levon asked Shadow as he was getting this things together to leave, "that LaFiamma may be wondering why you haven't stopped to see him. Why you're mad at HIM?"

"You mean he thinks... I just left? But, Hummer told him that Butterfield wants us to be assigned here."

"Maybe he thinks you refused, because you haven't been in to see him. He's asked about you."

"He has?"

"If you and Hummer are going to be staying, the first thing you better do is get a bomb detail and thoroughly check out that house Smith gave him. I mean, we had it checked, but your guys are so much better. I'm sure he'll want to move in there when he is discharged." Levon could see Shadow's brain start to work. He thought about asking the man his real name but then figured against it. Like Wolf, maybe he couldn't remember.

"Thanks! Thanks a lot!" Shadow exclaimed, pumping Levon's hand in gratitude. "We won't get in your way. We know ... you're his man."

"Listen boy, I learned long time ago, that nobody owns LaFiamma. He's his own man. He'll have us when he wants us, however he wants us. And we ... I love him enough to take whatever he dishes out. I never figured I'd be standing in line behind a bunch of Marines to have a piece of him ... but if that's what I got to do, I aim to do it."

[][][][][]

Joey was steadying himself against the bathroom doorframe when Shadow quietly entered his room. Immediately the Italian's keen sense of smell, the familiarity of the footsteps told him who it was. "Shadow? You back in town?"

"Never left, Sir. Thought you were mad at me. Didn't dare show my face for fear..."

"Help me, would you?" Joe rasped cutting the man short. "Thought I could do this on my own ... but hurts too much... need to use the john - and shower."

For the next thirty minutes, Samuel "Shadow" Jones, from Poughkeepsie, New York, bathed the man he loved. Soaping him, rinsing him, washing his hair. As the water was turned off, Joey leaned against his caregiver, basting in the warm heat of the shower.

"Thank you. It's nice to be taken care of once in a while." Joey whispered, pressing his wet flesh and especially his hard-on against Shadow's wet skin.

Sam's eyes widen his mouth dropped open, when the Major's penis rubbed against his thigh.

"May I take care of it, Sir?" Sam Jones asked huskily, "I've waited so long to have it again."

"Don't think I can take it, Sam. I want it, but not sure I can..." the words caught in the Italian's throat as Samuel dropped to his knees and took his Major's cock into his mouth. Joe leaned back against the now cold wet tile wall, letting his mind wander, thinking of nothing but the pleasure of the moment.

When he finished, Shadow stood up, a smile on his face from ear to ear. "Guess you got a new job for a while, Shower Man," Joey said, kissing him, sucking some of his own semen into his mouth. "You do good work. I'll need help at home for a while too. You up to it?"

"All I want is you, Sir. Any way I can get it."

Joe smiled, pulling Shadow to him, inflicting on him the famous LaFiamma French kiss. The kiss that melted men and women to the floor. The kiss that lit a fire of desire and passion within that person the likes of which they had never before experienced.

Still naked, Joe opened the bathroom door and called for Hummer, who appeared seconds later saying he would be glad to help. Shadow went unnoticed at first, yet no question was asked about why he was in the position he was in, Hummer knew. There was no resistance when Joey touched Hummer's lips and asked for a kiss. Jake was willing, eager to somehow consummate more of their relationship. As the kiss progressed, Joe unzipped Jake's pants and pulled out the man's penis, working it with his hand. Jake was tipsy when their mouths broke apart. All he could do was nod, when his Major asked to suck him off. Joe stripped Hummer's trousers off, using the man for leverage as he went to his knees. Joe swallowed Jake's cock bits at a time, finally pushing him downward onto the toilet seat. Just as Hummer started to come, Joe's mouth released the penis, then using his hands Major LaFiamma masturbated his new lover, and watched the semen make oily circles in the toilet.

Finding his pajamas, Joey slowly put them on, and stepped out of the bathroom. Looking around the hospital room, he hoped he would be able to convince Doctor Baker to release him. He was almost to the bed when R.G. entered the room.

"Sir, are you suppose to be up?"

"Just had a shower, R.G. Felt great. Only trouble is ... now I got a hard-on big as a horse. " Joey watched R.G. look around the room, and he didn't offer any explanation as to where the other two Marines were.

"I'll take it, Sir. It'd be my pleasure to be impaled on your sword," Renegade offered eagerly.

"My need is bad to be inside ... but hurt too much to even try," Joey replied groaning, his hands gripping the footboard. How was he ever going to make it once he got home?

"Don't have to do anything, sir. Just sit ... I'll do the rest." R.G. replied excitedly, already kicking off his shoes as he unbuckled his belt.

Joe stared at the man's giddy grin. [Hell, maybe I am plumbed for five.] LaFiamma allowed R.G. to slip off his pajama bottoms, and gently seat him on the edge of the bed. Joey watched with anticipation while his sergeant lathered the enlarged cock with lotion. The tattoo glittered in the sunlight coming through the window. The Italian let out a soft moan when Renegade spread his buns and slowly impaled himself.

"Ohgod, Reggeee..." Joey moaned slipping his arms around the man's waist. Then must to R.G.'s surprise, his Major moved with the quickness of a lioness on the hunt, and he found himself face down on the bed. "R.G., R.G., R.G, where have you been? God, I've missed you. Missed all of you." Joe's mouth, tongue, sucked on the tanned back, shoulder, and neck under him, raising hickeys that would last a week.

"Better get into the bathroom and clean up, before someone comes in and see what naughty little boys we are," Joe remarked softly, slowly withdrawing his spent cock from the ass that had been offered to him.

"R.G ... thanks for taking the job at the house ... being gardener, and all," Major LaFiamma said, slipping into his pajama bottoms.

"I'm honored to be asked, Sir. You don't have to pay me ... not with that little apartment and all."

"I'll pay you two ways," Joe said with a grin. "This way," pointing to his crotch, "and this way," rubbing his fingers together. "You got to have money too. Tell the boys, when you find them to stay here. Got something important they need to do."

Joey casually walked to the door of his hospital room as R.G. walked to the bathroom. Sex always did revive him. It was the juice he'd needed all along, better than any vitamin. Emerging from the sunny room into the artificiality light hall, the Marine-detective spotted Doctor Baker. Joe called, "Hey, Doc, when can I blow this pop stand?"

Baker looked at his patient ... barefoot, his open pajama top tied around his waist. "How'd your hair get wet?" The surgeon asked walking toward Joe.

"Took a shower! Getting' bored lying in that bed. So ... when can I go home?"

"Found out some things about our man Butterfield, " Baker said softly, touching Joe's shoulder and steering him back to his room. "You were right. His name is not Butterfield. It's Littleton. He's now in charge of the Marine special units. Because of Smith, recruitment has been down, and when they started questioning people about why they weren't interested they heard about how Smith used his men, and about a certain video he used to keep who he wanted in line."

The three Marines in LaFiamma's hospital room were in several stages of dress when they heard voices outside the door. Quickly they pulled their clothes on and were relatively decent when the door opened and Baker and their Major walked in.

"Gentlemen? You decent?" Joey asked with a smirk and he walked into the room followed by Doctor Baker.

"Hummer, how many Marines are still in town?" LaFiamma asked.

"Ah ... ones still in the Corps, you mean? Once we all knew you were going to be okay ... and Smith's house was cleared - most made arrangements to fly back. Except for Shadow and I. General Butterfield told us we were going to be assigned to you. Though we told him we didn't think you'd care to have Marines watching over you while doing your police work."

"Well, General Butterfield is not who he says he is. Have either of you talked to your base commanders since I was hurt?" Joey questioned, despairing at their nods of no. "I want you both to call your base commanders right now. DON'T give your name! Use my name to get through to them. When you are sure you are talking to them ... then give them your name and rank. Tell them some officer by the name of General Littleton told you to stay in Houston until orders came through for you, but so far nothing had, and you were getting worried. Worried maybe your name might be on an AWOL list because you hadn't reported back."

"AWOL LIST!" The two choked

"One of you can use this phone, and there is an empty room across the hall. You do have the 800 numbers for your bases, don't you? Good. The last thing I want to do is lose my two best sergeants to some ding-a-ling general in naval intelligence. GO!"

Joey paced back and forth in front of the window half-listening to Hummer's conversation. The pacing stopped dead when he heard the telephone number Jake gave to his Base Commander.

First Sergeant Jake Hummerstein hung up the phone, his hand shaking.

"Well?" Baker and LaFiamma asked at once.

"No orders have come through for me," Hummer replied slowly turning, his face ashen. "If I hadn't reported in by today, I would have been reported AWOL. He's going to check on this General Littleton and this phone number and get back to me. I ... I told him I could be reached through you."

"MAJOR!" Shadow screamed bursting into the room. "Soon as I gave my name, the guy said they were tracing the call and I'd be arrested within the day. I've ... been on the AWOL list for a week!"

Joey looked from one to the other then walked around Hummer to answer the ringing phone.

"Major LaFiamma. Yeah. Okay. Got another problem. My second Marine here just found out his base put him on their AWOL a week ago. The same day General Smith put me in the hospital." Joey listened intently, turning toward Sam Jones, he said, "Shadow, give me the number of your commander...the one you just talked to."

Hanging up the phone, Joe's hand went to his side. Doctor Baker watched as Hummer and Shadow immediately were at his side telling him he shouldn't be up.

"Got things to do gentlemen. One of them is to get Shadow out of this hospital before the MP's start crawling through it looking for him."

"Hummer, that number you gave your commander ... did General Butterfield give that to you?"

"Yes. He said if we had any problems to call that number ... why?"

"Because that is a Special Ops number. I used it when I was in the Corps. I'm surprised they haven't changed it. Let's just try our own little diversion here. ...R.G., go down the hall somewhere and call Lundy, don't use the same room Shadow did. They might think you're him. Ask Levon to send Estaban and Joe-Bill here on the double, him to if he's back on duty."

"What if he asks what it's about?"

"Tell him the place is crawling with military police. The phones are tapped, and Joe needs a safe haven for the harem."

"Harem?"

"I don't have time to explain code words, Renegade, now do it!"

"Well, Doc, can you get me discharged from this place?"

"On my way."

Joey waited until Doctor Baker had left the room before reaching for the phone and dialing the number he knew by heart. His two Marines exchanged worried glances.

Joey counted the rings, then the clicks, when the silence started he said. "LaFiamma. Major. Takes two to Tango. Gentlemen, you want me at Quanto you damn well better get my two Marines off the AWOL list! Houston is my territory, Littleton! You come looking for them or me without the proper paperwork, and you'll be cooling your heels in a Texas jail. I want them out with the same package you gave me. They are part of my team. You want me as part of your new training ... then you'd better make arrangements to have them there too...or no deal. I know a couple of lawyers in town that would love to take you on. She has... and she has won!!" With that said, Joe dropped the phone onto the receiver knowing the man or woman on the other end would be saying some words because of the loudness of the receiver falling.

"You better find me some clothes boys, I don't want to leave the hospital in these pajamas."

"Got 'em right here, Joe," Lundy replied walking into the room. "Jeans, shirt, socks, underwear, boots. MP's have been showing Shadow's picture around town all day. Joanne's put every cop in Houston on alert. We all know he's been here with you all week. Figured it was some kind of set up. Also got yellow police tape across your driveway, with an old bomb trailer we don't use any more. Think you can walk through the woods from my place to yours?"

"Yeah, partner. With a little help, I think I can. How about getting me out of here?"

"Got your signed papers right here," Levon answered, waving hospital papers in his partner's face.

"Hummer, the house is safe? You swept the entire house ... under beds, closets, dressers, the works?"

"Under the beds, sir?"

"UNDER THE BEDS! Like Smith's waterbed ... AND that platform bed in the master bedroom. I don't want to lay down and be blown up." Joe could tell by their looks that it hadn't occurred to them to sweep the house. "When is the last time you turkeys did a sweep? You check everything inside the front door remember ... now get on the phone while I get dressed, and have a team on standby! "

Joey stripped naked in front of his harem and began to dress without looking at any of them.

Levon watched the two Marines and R.G., their eyes were glued to Joey, and their tongues were hanging to the floor. It took the Texan a second or two to realize he was probably staring the same way.

"So, is Handsome's Harem ready? Okay, cowboy ... to my apartment. That will be our headquarters until we know Smith's house is livable. For all we know, the whole place may be full of traps. Gerald stopped by yesterday and said he'd found out some information about the house that we needed to know before moving in. God, it will be good to sleep in my own bed tonight."


	7. Smith's House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joe, Levon and the Marines begin to explore the House that General Smith built for Joe.

**SMITH'S HOUSE  
By Etch**

Joey sat propped up on two chairs in a control room in one of the buildings behind the house General George Washington Smith had built for him. What looked like a barn was actually a complex set of rooms, some large, and some small. All were off a main corridor. Each had a security sensor handprint pad, which opened and closed doors off the corridor. As each Marine tried his hand at opening a door, they soon discovered that Joey's prints were the only ones programmed in. And they surmised that General Smith's probably were also. Joey figured some of the rooms could be turned into barracks-type sleeping quarters. Two rooms near the front of the barn were linked together. One was what appeared to be a small dressing room, and the other had some real kinky M/S stimuli. Hawk would love to know that his Captain had a playroom just for him.

Joey LaFiamma didn't care what Doc Baker had said. Three weeks in the hospital and already a week at home were driving him nuts-oh. Against his Marines better judgement he had ordered them to take him to Smith's so they could check the place out. They were all amazed at the size of the place.

A second out building that Shadow thought looked like a horse barn held a two- bedroom apartment, the control room and three rooms marked 'Interrogation #1,' 'Interrogation #2,' and 'Interrogation #3.'

It was through R.G.'s inquisitive nature that the control room was found at all. He was running his hands over an odd-looking mosaic in the living room when his hand knocked something to the floor. It was the oddest shaped penis he'd ever seen. When he attempted to put it back, he couldn't make it fit anywhere. Stepping back to look at what the mosaic represented, the Marine was flabbergasted to discover it was two men lying together. R.G. looked at one and then the other, and replaced the one who was missing what he held in his hand. As he did so, the mosaic disappeared into the wall and an elaborate control room with monitors, keyboards, and microphones lay before him.

"You doing okay, Major?" R.G. asked as Joe shifted in his chair. "You really shouldn't be here."

"R.G. we have to see what is in this house before anyone accidentally trips into it. You sure Shadow and Hummer agreed to do this?" Joey asked for the umpteenth time, looking at one of the monitors.

"They glanced through the manual with me... they know...like going on a mission. You don't know what to expect. Just have to use your training."

Pushing a button on a microphone in front of him, LaFiamma asked, "Give me a thumbs up if you two morons really want to continue."

Joey waited, then went on as they gave the signal, "Okay, the door behind you is being closed. Follow the directions on the door in front of you. You will not hear my voice again, unless we spot some potential danger ahead of you. Remember ... we have absolutely no idea what Smith has already programmed into these rooms or this house."

Reggie and Joe watched as the two Marines stripped down to their underwear in a room no bigger than a closet. Carefully they folded their clothes and put them as the instructions on the door stated on a small shelf to their right. As their shoes and socks were deposited on the top of their clothes the shelf began to descend and the door in front of them opened.

Sam and Jake stepped into individual cubicles totally isolated from each other.

"Oh shit," Joey gasped, "it's an interrogation room..." Before LaFiamma could continue a video began playing in each room. It played upon the white wall in front of each Marine, calling them names, swearing at them, telling them they were incompetent ... that they would never see daylight again ... that their comrades had written them off.

"Major, you all right," R.G. asked, leaving his part of the control panel to come to Joe's side.

"Oh, damn. DAMN! DAMN! Those are the exact words they used on me! My god this man has duplicated everything!" Joey screamed as Gerald walked into the apartment.

"Joe, there's no way, they can tattoo..." Reggie began, but Joe cut him short.

"Oh hell...R.G..." Joey said taking his eyes off Shadow who was repeating his name, rank and serial number. "... a lot more went down before they ever got to the tattoo."

"Why don't I take you into the living room or into the bedroom, you should be laying down --- please. Let me call Levon, he's just next door." R.G. pleaded, glancing from Joe to the monitors and back again.

They both saw Hummer fall to his knees sobbing. Joe reached to the mike, but R.G. stopped him. "You didn't order them in. They volunteered. They are experiencing what you did. Hummer is sensitive to that, you know that. We can't stop it, and you know if there were any other Marines in there -- that you wouldn't."

Joe simply nodded and told R.G. to go ahead and call Levon.

When Lundy arrived R.G. explained what was going on. Levon looked at the pain on his partner's face, pain from his injury and the pain of his Marine being attacked the way he was. "Come on, Joe." Levon said reaching out his hand. Taking his other hand Lundy touched Joe's chin and turned it toward him. "They are going to need this training someday...it will probably save their lives...now come on."

It took both Gerald and Levon to ease LaFiamma out of the chair, and still Joe cried out in pain as he straightened up.

"Too sore to do what you want, cowboy," Joe said quietly as they left the control room and emerged into a corner of the living room.

"You don't even know what I want," Levon countered softly, steering the man toward the bedroom.

"It's been awhile since... we..."

"We love each other, Joe. We don't got to do IT every time we are together."

"I know. It's just that I miss the togetherness we had before General Smith arrived. So much has changed. It will never be the same as it was before, never. And I miss that already." Joey replied, leaning against the wall while his partner turned down the bed.

"And I don't appreciate you pushing me to marry Lucia. Not sure that was such a good idea now. Oh, god ... Levon, my whole world is upside down. It's as bad as when I shot Rick...the whole world changed and was never the same again."

"I didn't push you into...." Levon stopped remembering the words he had told his partner as he had watched Joe and Lucia kiss. "All of us want kids, Joe. And she loves you. Wants you in spite of the fact she knows you and I are lovers and will continue to be. Hell, I'd like to have kids, but don't see no prospect for that."

Joey moaned slightly as Levon walked him from the wall to the bed. "Seems to me she said she'd be a surrogate mother for you."

The Italian watched Levon make a face, "Besides, I think it would be cool to have Italian kids and blond haired Texas kids grow together in the same house. Society might frown on it, but what the hell."

Just as Levon was easing his partner onto the bed, R.G. rushed in to say Hummer had found a way out of the room and was in some kind of a tunnel.

"You are not going in there, so just forget it!" Levon growled staring into Joe's face.

"You heard what Mother said," Joey said with a chuckle, "keep me posted. What about Shadow?"

"He hasn't broken. Still standing firm."

"How did Hummer get out?"

"There was a slit of light in a corner of the room, he crawled to it, and when he tried to force it up...it opened."

"Is there a monitor inside? Do we know what's in it? He could be crawling into anything," Joey groaned more worried about his Marine than his pain.

"According to the manual it leads to the house... goes under the bath house and up the wall into one of the bedrooms."

"The prison room...what do you bet it comes out in the prison room. Levon, come on, I've got to get back...."

"You ain't going no place, LaFiamma," Levon said his left hand dropping down to touch his partner's genitals.

Joe swallowed, staring at the Texan, "You're right. I'm not going anywhere."

"R.G., make sure you keep notes on this...how long it takes each one to get to where."

Levon walked R.G. to the bedroom door quietly talking to him as they went, telling him to ask Gerald to help him in the control room. Levon closed the door and locked it. Then walked to the opposite door and locked that.

"You see this invisible key, LaFiamma?" Levon asked, holding nothing out in mid-air, then grasping it tightly as he unbuckled his belt buckle and unbuttoned his jeans. "I'm dropping it here!

Joe laughed at the gesture.

"If you want out of here...you will have to search around through the other stuff that is in there and see if you can find it."

"This is what I miss, Levon...this is exactly what I miss." Joey said with a grin as he sat on the bed.

][][][][][][][][][]

Hummer was half way to nowhere when he heard a noise. He couldn't tell if it was behind him or in front of him. He knew he couldn't go back because the escape hatch had closed behind him as soon as he was out. His knees were hurting and getting scraped but he pressed ahead hoping that maybe Shadow had already arrived to wherever they were going. Suddenly his head hit a wall. Feeling around in the dark he discovered that the only way to go was up. Kind of like spelunking he thought, no ladder, no hand or foot holds, just work yourself up like a spider. He glanced upward but saw nothing; still he began his ascent. His thoughts turned to Joe, and the beauty of the man. The beauty of his naked body as he stripped for a shower this morning. Muscles taunt and firm...body tanned, all over...no swimsuit marks...he was so handsome. The most handsome man Jake had ever seen. Hummer stopped short almost losing his balance altogether. Something was poking him. Something big. He swallowed, putting his head back. "Got to stop thinking about that man," Hummer whispered. "Damn I got a hard-on big as a cow. Don't got room for that too."

Hummer also missed the turn. If it weren't for his cock being so hard, he would have. He had released the hardening object from his shorts, and had started to change positions. He waited for his cock to hit the cold bare metal hoping it would zap it down but it didn't. He reached into the space in front of him and found an opening. Ducking his head he gazed into another part of the tunnel only this part had a light coming into it.

[][][][][][]

R.G.'s eyes were on the prison room monitor when he saw a chair that was up against the wall start to move. A smile crossed his face; relief swept through his body as Hummer emerged, crawling on his hands and knees his hard cock swinging under him like a stallion hot for a mare.

Gerry looked at Reggie, "Shadow is still standing. Still giving his name, rank and serial number. How we going to make him break?"

"Am looking that up right now...here we go...let's see what he does now," R.G. replied pressing coded numbers into a keyboard in front of him.

The two watched as the floor in Shadow's interrogation room let loose with a small ripple throwing the man off his feet. As Sam struggled to get his feet under him, R.G. sent another ripple and another until the man let out a scream. Only then did the ripple effect stop.

Then Smith's voice echoed around Sam, "I'm going to have your ass, boy. By the time I'm done with you I'm going to have your ass ten times over!"

"Where did that come from?" Gerald asked glancing from the monitor to R.G. and back again.

"Got me? That's the trouble. Smith pre-programmed so much of the house. This manual only gives us some of it. And according to this manual there is more than one manual ... we just haven't found it yet."

"Well I found the people who put part of the special effects in ... who worked with the builder anyway. Some California movie company. My wife has been calling them everyday for a week. Just before I came, I called Admiral English about it. He said he'd have the Marines at Long Beach track the people down."

[][][][][][]

"So what do we do if I can't find this invisible key," Joey whispered, his hands reaching up to unzip his partner's jeans.

"Reckon, R.G. will just have to slide food under the door for us," Levon responded smiling, a shiver going through him as Joe's thumbs slipped inside his waist band and began to push his shorts and jeans over his hips.

"Good way to lose weight. Not much will fit under those doors," Joey replied, grinning at the navel in front of his face. Sticking out his tongue, cupping his mouth around Levon's bellybutton, Joey made the biggest raspberry sound he could.

"YYYEE-OWW!" The sound burst forth from Lundy's throat startling both men. Levon was pulled onto the bed and they both began laughing hilariously.

"God, I love you cowboy," Joey said, ignoring the pain in his muscles as he moved to give his partner a kiss.

"I love you too, Chicago," Lundy replied, opening his mouth for the tongue he saw approaching. Knowing Joe's condition, Levon was determined to let Joe lead the way as to how far they were to go.

"Come on, cowboy, help me get undressed...and get yourself naked too. I am so hot for you...want you so much...come on."

"Joe, don't you think...."

"Come on Lee-von. My need for you is greater than any pain I have. And that, Sergeant Lundy is saying a lot."

[][][][][][][]

R.G. reached for the microphone, and shouted to Shadow over the din of Smith's words. "SHADOW! WE DON'T KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING! HUMMER GOT OUT BY SEEING A LIGHT NEAR THE FLOOR...LOOK FOR IT. WHAT'S BEYOND WE DON'T KNOW BUT IT LEADS TO THE HOUSE!"

Gerald and R.G. watched Shadow start to crawl around the floor. It seemed to them that he'd been around once already when he finally stopped and pressed one hand against the wall. The two men gasped. Hummer's opening had been small and tight. Now Shadow's was visible, tubular.

"Damned if it doesn't look like a water slide," Gerry said in stark surprise. R.G. and Gerald exchanged glances. "Wonder if Smith was planning to put some man-eating fish into that pool. If he was...that man would be dead soon as he hit the water."

"You know we're going to have to ask Sam to go into Room Number 3," Gerald said getting up from his chair and walking into the living room. He reached the picture window overlooking the back of the house and the swimming pool just as Sam Jones' head broke through the water. Hurrying to the hall closet, Gerald took out a large beach towel and headed out to meet Sam.

Back in the living room, Sam stood shivering, drying himself off. "Geez, when that floor started moving, I thought I was in another earthquake. And the scariest part...when I started down that slide I couldn't stop. It's tilted in such a way you just keep going. Then as you approach the bottom --- there's....there is this sign that says...'nice knowing you, hope you had a good life, goodbye.' What do you suppose Smith planned to put in that pool? Where's Hummer? He out yet?"

Stepping out of the control room, R.G. looked at his saturated Marine buddy. "Shad? We're going to have to ask you to go into Room Number 3."

"WHAT? I already put in my time."

"Hummer's tunnel lead him into the house. We have to have someone go through the next room and you are the only one. Now come on. I can hold the door for you on Number 2 so you can get your clothes and put them in Number 3." R.G. stated authoritatively.

"Where's the Major? Where's LaFiamma? I want to hear him tell me that." Sam Jones replied defiantly. "Where is he? In the bedroom?"

Gerald stepped between Shadow and the room, saying in a half whisper, "We called Levon over to make Joe lay down and rest."

"I ain't going, unless he tells me too!" Shadow stated firmly.

[][][][][][][]

"We're not getting undressed Joe. Not with what is happening out there. Hummer's in your prison room. If something happens and you're...." Levon stopped in mid-sentence, and watched a cloak of fear close over Joe's face.

"Help me up, partner. If that is like my prison room it is going to be crawling with cockroaches real or projected, and Hummer hates bugs. I mean HATES bugs. We have to get him out of there before nightfall...come on...lover...retrieve that key."

Levon opened the bedroom door just as Sam raised his hand to knock. As if reading the Marine's thoughts, Joey eyes scanned Shadow from head to toe, before saying, "get in some clean underwear ... you're going in room number three."

Sam Jones stared back at his commanding officer. Silence filled the living room for several seconds before Shadow muttered, "I'll wear what I got on."

"Good boy," Joey said patting his Marine on the shoulder. "Gerald will hold the door open while you retrieve your clothes from number two."

"Come on, Levon, prop me back up in that chair. You're going to be my button man," Joey said with a grin.

"Button man?"

"You're going to push the buttons, so he doesn't have to lean forward," R.G. ventured with a smile.

Joey grinned at R.G. who grinned back. LaFiamma shook his head as he sat back down in one of the swivel chairs in front of the control panel. He found it hard to believe sometimes how much he loved each of 'his' Marines and Levon too.

Joe asked Lundy to press button IR3, and as the monitor came up the two detectives saw a coiled shadow against one wall. LaFiamma lunged for the loudspeaker microphone almost slugging his partner in the process.

"GERALD!! GET HIM OUT! GET HIM OUT NOW! GET HIM OUT! GET HIM OUT NOW!!" Joey shouted at the top of his lungs. "R.G. get outside... get them out ... hurry, man, hurry!"

"You okay, Levon?" Joey asked looking at his shaken partner.

"Next time, warn me, okay? Lundy replied, shrugging his shoulder as he moved his head in a circle. "What button does the Button Man push to find out what that thing is?"

Joey pointed to the mouse that controlled the monitor, "Move it slow, remember, slow."

"Why the hell did you pull me out?" Shadow groused walking up behind the two detectives. "I didn't see a thing in the roo......holy shit....what is that?"

"That, Samuel Jones, is one hell'ava big snake. A coiled, ready to strike snake. I would venture to say he is one damn hungry snake too. Probably would have started with your arm or your head while he crushed your ribs. Damn, what else does Smith have in this house? R.G. what's happening with Hummer? Bring his room up."

As the room came up on the monitor, Joey began muttering, "Oh, damn. Oh, damn, no. Oh damn."

Touching his lover lightly on the shoulder, Levon whispered, "Joe, tell us what's going on? What can we do?"

"I don't know! God, Smith was a mad man! A mad man! There is no light in that room. No light bulb...no switch...when it gets dark the wall will start to glow and when it does the bugs will come..."

"Bugs? Crawly bugs?" Shadow gasped knowing the answer without his Major saying a word. "We have to get him out, Sir. We'll lose him for sure. You know how his Dad tortured him... having spiders crawl over him to prove he was a man...we got to get him out!"

"Do we have a loudspeaker for that room?" Joey asked as R.G. pulled open the manual and began searching the index.

"I think so...try it." Renegade replied after pressing three buttons on the keyboard in front of him.

"Hummer! Can you hear me? Do a thumbs up if you can. Okay, you have to find a way out...and it is not the way you came in." Shielding the mike with his hand, Joey whispered to R.G., "there should be a speaker in there for us to talk back in forth...that is a duplicate, except bigger, of my cell in Lebanon."

Levon glanced around the board and asked, "What about this one that says ... speaker?"

The Marines all stared at Lundy. In unison, Gerald and Shadow said, "Feed him to the snake."

Levon pressed it as Joey spoke again to Hummer. Hummer's answer came back loud and clear. "I already tried the way I came...there is nothing but a wall there now. Tried to move the dresser...nothing. Looked under the waterbed...nothing. Got some funny looking things inside the waterbed...Joe...I don't like this place...you got to get me out!?

"We're trying, Hummer, we're trying." Joey replied softly, trying to calm Jake's fears. "I want you to take a slow walk around the room. Look for any mark on the wall or on the door. A slash. An X... anything out of the ordinary."

The minutes dragged on as the foursome in the control room watched Jake Hummerstein walk slowly around the prison room. "The only thing I see, Major, is a green X on the middle of the door."

A half smile crossed Joe's face, and those around him relaxed a little. "Remember when you kicked in the door of that white slaver's trading post? I want you to do the same thing here...only Hummer...you have to do a direct hit on that green X or it won't work."

LaFiamma held his breath as did R.G., Levon, Gerald and Shadow. One unison gasp was let out when the door opened and Hummer stepped into the hall.

"Hummer! Don't touch the walls! Walk down the very middle of the hall. When you come to the stairs...be careful...one step at a time...hang onto the railing. Make your way to the kitchen...repeat do NOT touch the walls...anywhere."

"This should be a piece of cake," Shadow said watching his Marine buddy gingerly walk toward the stairs. "He could just slide down the railing."

LaFiamma half turned in his chair, glancing over his shoulder to Shadow. "You ever been captured, Samuel?"

"No, sir."

"Then keep your damn mouth shut ... or it will be taped shut." LaFiamma growled.

"MAJOR! SOMETHING'S HAPPENING...ITS MOVING!" Hummer screamed as he reached for the railing, grabbing it with both hands.

Joe turned back to the monitors in time to see the stairs turn into a slide ... then ... they parted revealing a huge empty black space.

"Hummer...can you jump over that to the floor?" Joey asked, watching as the Marine did as he was told.

"Okay...my protector...again...don't touch the walls. Walk into the kitchen and look for a long handled spoon, or fork or something that is about the length of your arm. Don't touch any metal. If you have to open drawers do so cautiously by taking the bottom edge and doing it slowly. If you can't see what's in it...close it."

"There's a long spoon in the sink," Hummer said, reaching for it.

"*NOOO*! Don't touch it. Find something else."

"But... it's just what you said."

"Trust me Hummer...find something else and do it quickly."

"How... how about this umbrella? It was on the table."

"Okay, stand there facing the sink for a minute...I have to work something out." Joey said, bringing a hand to his head, he began rubbing his forehead. Immediately Levon and Shadow were on either side.

"If I am standing with my back to the sink...then turn around...what was my right hand is now my left ... is that correct?" LaFiamma watched R.G. act out what he said.

"Shadow, I want you to take a radio, and go to the front porch of the house and wait for Hummer to come through."

"Come through?"

"Just do it...take a radio...tell me when you have him. Put some pants on too." Joey waited until he heard the door slam, and knew Sam was on his way before giving Hummer his instructions.

"Hummer. I want you to squat down on your haunches. Don't kneel. Don't sit. Use the umbrella to open the first bottom cupboard left of the sink. Don't touch anything...just use the umbrella...push it open as far as it will go."

LaFiamma heard a radio crackle behind him and Sam's words that he was on the porch.

"Still ... without touching the sides of the cupboard or your knees to the floor ... lean in and push on the back panel with the umbrella." LaFiamma watched as Hummer obeyed his directions. "What do you see?

"A --- it looks like a white deck...and trees."

"Okay, this is the same as the swimming test you had to pass. Dive through the opening without touching the sides. Push off on your feet, and propel yourself through...Shadow is on the other side. This is your last chance to get out of the house. Do it now! NOW!"

They watched as Jake sprang off his feet and dove with his arms in front of him through the cupboard. They stared as seconds later the cupboard door that Jake had opened with the umbrella slammed shut, and a recording blared..."you think you won this one LaFiamma but you haven't...you haven't. You're alone...alone. Lundy's dead...you lost your badge...you're mine...mine."

"I knew he was sick," Gerald said quietly, "But this borders on lunacy."

Suddenly the radios on the kitchen table all squawked at once. "I GOT HIM. I GOT HIM." Shadow shouted.

Leaning on Levon's arm, Joey pulled himself to his feet. "Lundy I want you to get some of that police tape the crime lab uses to close off areas... two or three rolls. Want to wrap this house so no one will go in."

"Gerald...we need some signs for the front and back door. Something like ... House unsafe...No Admittance. I don't want anyone going into there until we can find the people who put this thing together."

"He's here!" Shadow called as they came in the back door of the apartment.

Joey hurried to where they stood, calling for a blanket for Hummer. As the blanket was draped around Jake's shoulders, LaFiamma embraced him, hugging him close.

"I was so scared, Major. I don't think I've ever been that scared in all my life. It's like the house has its own life..." Hummer muttered his head resting on his Major's shoulder. He didn't want to move. Just wanted this feeling of love that was flowing through him to go on forever.

Moving slightly, Joey lifted Hummer's chin and gave him a light kiss. Jake asked for more, and Joey smiled. Joey pointed to the second bedroom, not the one he and Levon had been in earlier.

"Levon, you want to call Estaban or someone and get that stuff out here. I want that house taped off before it gets dark. Shadow...make some coffee, hot chocolate or cider...R.G. keep looking at those monitors, see what else we can find out about this place. Gerry print out those signs and get them up...and one more thing...no ONE goes to that house alone. Teams of two only...we need to get Hummer clothes too."

Levon watched as Joe turned and walked to the room that Hummer had disappeared into. "I can't get used to this... him walking into a bedroom to have a hot time with one of you."

"Don't worry, Levon," R.G. said, ruffling the blond's hair with his hand. "Hummer's a virgin... all they will do is kiss...unless Jake gets so hard Joe has to jack him off. Come on...hold the door for me while I get Jake's clothes."

Hummer was just stepping into a clean pair of shorts when Joey opened the door and walked in. LaFiamma pulled off his tee shirt as he walked exposing his bruised and scarred chest.

Jake greeted him warmly, turning down the bed covers as Joe took his shirt off.

"Its just to remind you not to hug me too tight," LaFiamma said, answering the distressed look on Jake's face.

They stood next to the bed just looking at each other. "I was so afraid I was going to lose you," LaFiamma finally said tenderly reaching up to push Hummer's sandy hair out of his eyes. "I didn't want to see you hurt...I don't ever want to see you hurt."

Joey reached out and took Jake's hand, and motioned to the bed. Together they sat, eyes not leaving the others. They smiled together. Licked their lips together; then Joe leaned forward and started the kiss. Hummer's legs jerked straight out as Joey pushed him gently backwards. LaFiamma pulled Jake fully onto the bed; his mouth never leaving the mouth it was attached too. Joey hummed as his teeth caught Jake's tongue sucking it into his own mouth. Hummerstein's body jerked erratically on the bed like a man who had touched an electric wire. Joey's hand slowly moved inside Jake's shorts jacking the man off in short sharp bursts as his hand ran over a hardened cock.

Slowly withdrawing his mouth, his hand, Joey looked at the peaceful face of Jake Hummerstein. "Sleep," Joey whispered as he moved off the bed. Quickly picking up his tee shirt LaFiamma left the room. Standing in the living room, Joey heard voices coming from the control room, and a mixture of hot chocolate and cider drifted out of the kitchen. He decided to head to the kitchen first, and found mugs of both hot chocolate and cider. Taking one of the ciders he walked back into the living room to the picture window and watched Levon and Estaban Guiterrez wrap yellow police tape around the outside porch of Smith's house.

It was Estaban who saw Joey first, standing in the window with a light behind him. "Looks like he wants you back," the Hispanic officer said quietly nodding toward the house.

As Lundy looked up, Joey raised his mug to him, a sure invitation if Estaban ever saw one. "You don't take that offer, I will," Estaban replied into the Texan's surprised face.

"You too?" Lundy gulped.

"I could name ten cops who would love to be in your shoes, Lundy. In fact some of us wonder how you two ever got together, you're such opposites. Now get going before I hate myself in the morning and tie you up and take him myself."

Levon waved to LaFiamma, then bid farewell to Esteban. Esteban's words peaked Lundy's imagination. Walking back to the complex, as they now called it, Levon wondered which ten cops had the hots for his partner.

LaFiamma waited for his partner just inside the door, so he could corner the man and steer him directly into the bedroom. Joe had already told Shadow and R.G. what he was going to do, and had bid goodbye to Gerald who was going to make a concentrated effort to find this movie company.

Standing in the bedroom, in various stages of undress, Levon still wasn't sure he should be doing this. But when Joe begged him as he had when he came in the door Levon usually couldn't say no. And it had been a while, Levon had to admit that.

Joey waited until his partner was naked before stepping nose to nose to him. "Flesh against flesh, cowboy." LaFiamma whispered pulling the man to him and initiating the first kiss. Before Levon knew what was happening they were rolling around on the double bed in a tight embrace, legs tangled together, mouths, tongues locked in mortal combat, bodies pumping hard against each other. Lost was the fact that Joe was probably in great pain. All they wanted was each other, and their raw passion for one another was stronger than anything else.

It was R.G. who checked on the two detectives a couple hours later, finding them sound asleep in each other arms, he covered them with a blanket, then went out and told Shadow it looked like they would be spending the night here. Neither one was anxious to venture into the blackness of Smith's world. Shadow pulled the drapes across the picture window, while R.G. moved the sectional sofa into pieces so they each had something to sleep on.


	8. Handsome's Harem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Joe recuperates from his injury he learns more about Smith's plans and runs afoul of the man who held him hostage in Lebanon.

**HANDSOME'S HAREM  
By Etch**

Joey LaFiamma moved slowly across his bed, knowing that the slightest moan or gasp would travel from the loft bedroom down to the two Marines in living room. Three weeks of bed rest had him bananas. Not that every minute had been spent in bed. If it had been, he figured he'd be in the loony bin by now.

Twice they had driven out to Smith's house and once they had gotten there just as an exotic fish dealer was ready to unload piranhas in the swimming pool. After calling the Fish and Game Department to deal with the man and telling him he would be held accountable for any kids or hikers who decided to take a splash the man was more than happy to cooperate.

Smith had pre-ordered, and pre-paid the shipment, triple the cost since they are illegal to import. The dealer had not bothered to check to see if Smith still owned the house or not. LaFiamma hoped the man's import license would be revoked.

As the man was taken away the Marines and Joey stared at the swimming pool then at Shadow and back again. All knew the horrible death Shadow would have suffered when he came out of that tube from the interrogation room and hit the water. The true meaning of the sign Shadow saw at the end of the tube made everyone wonder what else Smith had up his sleeve.

Joey still found it unbelievable that Smith hated him so much. They had made love numerous times, yet now LaFiamma was finding out it was more out of hatred than love. Gerald had received a huge footlocker of Smith's that had been in storage at Quanto. Since Gerald was the manager of Smith's trust fund they had shipped it to him. LaFiamma and Gerry had gone through it and were flabbergasted to find detailed journals on just about everything Smith did. In it also was the infamous video that R.G. had talked about.

General Smith had details of each man he considered 'his.' What was most horrifying to Joe was the step-by-step instructions of his recon team being split in half, of his capture, of his detainment, of his torture - to the detail of having cockroaches released where there normally weren't any.

Even viewing Smitty's body hadn't helped any of the Marines. Shadow had insisted that the corpse be undressed to verify it wasn't a white guy with his head and hands painted black, and that scars on the shoulders and buttocks were there. All of them would have loved to have thrown the dead man into that vat of piranhas. Then maybe they all would have felt like that was the end of the man. Yet each one lived with scars of his own inflicted by George Washington Smith. Perhaps this is why they had a kinship with LaFiamma, which went beyond the love they felt for him.

Joey stared at the ceiling, listening to Shadow and Hummer pack things up downstairs. The Italian had learned fast about his caregivers. If the slightest moan of pain escaped his lips they were there in seconds hovering over him. LaFiamma thought Lundy's mothering was bad, these two were double that and more.

It was Levon who talked Joey into marrying Lucia while he was still in the hospital. The Texan surmised that once Joe got out of the hospital that between police work and Marine training he just wouldn't fit in a wedding. Aunt Teresa and a couple of cousins flew down from Chicago for the event. A quiet private wedding ceremony was held in the hospital chapel with Levon as Joey's best man, and Amy English, Admiral English's wife, as Lucia's matron of honor. The three women were already planning an elaborate reception to let the Texas world know that Houston's number one bachelor was now out of circulation.

Joey smiled to himself thinking about the ranch that Levon had found for him and Lucia just a couple of miles from Smith's and Lundy's. They were closing on it tomorrow or was it today? Levon told Joey after the wedding ceremony that he was going to start house hunting for Joe. The look in Aunt Teresa's eyes at the wedding had told him LaFiamma's family would be coming down now that he was putting down roots. Lundy more than the Marines seemed to understand how important it was for Joe to have roots. When Levon discovered an old for sale along the road as he drove home one day, he drove in over the weed infested driveway to a house that looked like it had been empty for quite a while. After tracking down the realtor, Levon discovered the house belonged to Joey's surgeon, Doctor Tom Baker.

The property was a tri-level modern style solar house with five bedrooms; a gourmet kitchen that included a huge cooking island, a den, and even what could be called a mother-in-law suite on the lower level of the daylight basement. Behind the three car garage were several other buildings including an oversize bunkhouse with a large kitchen plus some other smaller buildings.

After much discussion with Doctor Baker, Admiral English, and the newly appointed head of Special Operations, General Michael Callahan, it was decided that this bunkhouse would serve as a guesthouse for the men and women that would be coming to go through the Interrogation training at Smith's house. Or as R.G. had dubbed it after finding the second manual -- Smith's prison complex. General Callahan even agreed to fund a cook for the times when training would be happening. The rooms in Smith's barn, with the exception of Hawk's playroom, were being turned into living quarters for the Harem, though R.G. would be living in the apartment, which he discovered had an impregnable firewall around it. Evidently Smith wanted to make sure an unbalanced LaFiamma couldn't burn him out.

Peaceful, boring Houston had suddenly turned into sexual heaven. Joey wondered if the same would have happened if he were still in Chicago. He doubted it. Aunt Teresa would have latched onto Lucia and thrown the rest out.

"Hey you guys down there, you going to starve me to death, or do I get breakfast today?" Joey called from the loft just as Levon knocked on the apartment door.

Joey heard the exchange of words and recognized Lundy's voice, calling down to him to bring up breakfast or just bring himself.

"Ornery today, ain't he?" Levon asked taking off his hat.

"Doc Baker told him he was over doing it yesterday. Read him the riot act. Don't think it will do much good. He's going stir crazy being cooped up. Maybe you could go to bed with him awhile... he's wearing us out, man." Shadow said with a grin.

"I ain't one for making love with others around," Levon answered, pink blush crossing his face. "Why don't you get him some breakfast? I've got some things he needs to go over."

Walking up the spiral staircase, Levon swallowed back the urge to run and pounce upon his lover. Two weeks ago at Smith's complex, they had been together in R.G.'s bed, and it had been wonderful. It was the first time they'd been in bed since the night before Smith arrived in Houston. Waking up the next morning to find someone had covered them with blankets had been a shock to Lundy. He knew the blanket wasn't over them when they fell asleep. Levon wondered if he would ever get used to seeing Joe openingly kiss others in his presence. The blond remembered his partner saying his family had no qualms about kissing each other, man or woman. Maybe he is just emulating his upbringing. The cowboy wondered if he would have gone in and covered Joe and Sam? The Texan itched to have his lover back in his arms, but in his own bedroom, in their own place away from interruptions.

"Partner, how you doing?" Levon asked settling into the recliner next to Joey's bed.

"No fun being in bed alone, man... got sex all around and all of them are saying no... how about you Lundy? You saying no too?"

"I ain't sayin' no, just saying now's not the time. Got a package here you might want to look at," the Texan replied opening up the folder he was carrying. Cautiously showing the Italian the package before handing it to him on the bed.

"You found it!" Joey roared joyfully, sitting up to catch it. "Where's it been?"

"Been sitting on the hotel manager's desk all this time. Marriott had a big convention come in the day you were hurt, then another and another. He called Reisner about the package yesterday and I picked it up this morning."

Joey ripped open the package and pieces fell out everywhere. One by one LaFiamma picked them up. The gold leaf Major clusters he put on his bedside table. He glanced over the president's letter before handing it to Lundy. Then he gathered up the envelopes marked "Captain LaFiamma" and put them in order according to the names on the upper left hand corner. Joey fingered Lucia's letter. She had asked him not to read it, and he hadn't given her an answer.

Since a priest had married them, and there was no way that they were going to be divorced, he went ahead and opened the letter. LaFiamma started laughing almost immediately. He could see her standing in front of him saying these exact words.  _['I love you Joey, and have ever since we first met, but if you think I am going to hang around and wait for you every time you break a date you have another thing coming. What excuse will it be this time? Colonel Smith pulled you in for extra duty just doesn't cut it anymore. No more pussy footing up to me with those sorrowful eyes. No more Captain! This is it! IT!']_  "Yeah babe, Colonel Smith did everything he could to break us up, but it didn't work did it?"

"What didn't work, Sir?" Shadow asked coming up the spiral staircase with a tray of food.

"Smitty breaking Lu and I up," Joey answered refolding his wife's letter into its envelope, he opened the drawer on the bedside table and slipped the letter inside.

Shadow stared at the papers on the bed. "Is that the Chicago package?"

"That it is, Samuel Jones, that it is. Hand the tray to Lundy he's going to feed me while I read..."

"Hey, I ain't your slave. You can order them to...." Levon groused wanting more than anything to be able to spend the day in bed with his partner.

"Huh?" LaFiamma mumbled confused by his partner's reaction. "I don't order them to do anything, Lundy. They come and go just like you. They say no just like you. As far as ordering you to do something, you happen to work for me now, remember?"

Levon swallowed, he really wanted to say I am your slave, I am your anything, but he just wasn't use to sharing his lover. Lundy didn't understand why Lucia didn't have a problem with watching Joey make out with his harem in front of her, and him.

"I - I just got a problem with sharing you okay. It's going to take some time. And - and the way Shadow looks at me sometimes...."

"You got eyes for him, Sam?" LaFiamma asked quietly studying his Marine.

"Ain't never had a real Texan, Sir. And there's just something about those tight jeans..." Shadow's voice trailed off, the last thing he wanted was to be exiled from this lover again.

"If you've got a hard-on partner, Shadow's your man. He's the best cock sucker in the world. No one is better than he is. You haven't lived until he's tasted you. You hard now?" Joe questioned seeing the ridge in his lover's jeans.

Levon swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded yes.

Grinning from ear to ear, LaFiamma began gathering up his papers. "Come on, cowboy, take your boots off and see for yourself. Can't have you going to work that way, and my nursemaids won't let me do it."

Shadow took the breakfast tray back as Levon bent to take his boots off. The Texan missed the quiet exchange between the other two men and was surprised when Sam asked him to just get undressed all the way. Levon stared at his partner as he eased himself out of bed. Naked the man was truly beautiful, Levon thought. Every curve, every muscle keenly shaped.

"You comin' in me when he's done?" Lundy croaked his voice husky with excitement and passion.

"If you want," Joey replied lightly kissing his partner on the lips as they traded places.

"I want." Came the simple answer.

Joey plopped down in the recliner turning it slightly to give his partner the bit of privacy that he could, and began to devour the scrambled eggs, hash browns, toast, juice and coffee.

The smoothness of Sam's hands surprised Lundy. They felt like pure silk skimming over his hips, touching his balls. Shadow's mouth hadn't even touched his penis yet, and Levon's cock was already at full arousal. No wonder LaFiamma loves this man, Levon thought, his touch is beyond words.

Shadow inwardly smiled. He had wanted this man even before he knew Lundy was Handsome's partner. Sam had bided his time hoping things would turn his way and he would have a chance with this Texan. Now here he was ready to do what he was trained for - trained to be a cock sucker in his brother's brothels in Amsterdam and New York. Sam still remembered the lecture he got went he told his family he had joined the Marine Corps. Little did they realize he was still practicing the art he'd been taught at a teenager.

Bending low Shadow began nibbling Levon's balls, first gently biting them, then pulling them into his mouth, and sucking 'em hard.

Joey finished his breakfast, got up and set the tray down at the top of the stairs. Turning back to the two on the bed, he smiled. Levon's back was arched high off the bed, body and words begging for the mouth to move to the cock.

"OOOOOOOOOHGODDD!" Levon moaned as Sam's mouth began to work down the length of his cock.

Kneeling as his partner's head, Joey whispered, "Shhh, Levon you want my neighbors to call the cops?"

Joey's fingers lightly rubbed over the top of his partner's nipples, no pinching, just the bare tantalizing touch. Guttural, animalistic sounds began to come from Levon's throat.

Levon lay in a dream world, passion ebbing through him like tide crashing against rocks in a summer storm. His genitals were on fire. His toes tingled. This was beyond anything he and his partner had ever done together. Why did his partner even need him with this man around?

The Texan turned his head as Joe moved onto the bed next to him. "He's good, isn't he?" Joey whispered, tenderly touching his lover's chin.

"I'm comin.. aghrgh... it's good... it hurts... oh god Joey why do you even need me with him here?"

Joey stilled the babble coming from his lover's mouth with a kiss. His tongue probing deep into the throat as Shadow's throat milked Levon's cock dry.

"You better let me do you sir," Shadow rasped quietly. "He's spent."

"I don't want to be sucked, Shadow, I want inside. You don't like inside except in the shower, I'll just wait for Levon to come around."

"You can have me, Major, please. In the closet... we can do it in the closet."

Joey moved off the bed, covering Levon with a sheet as he moved around the end of the bed. He looked up to see Shadow blocking his way to the bathroom. "Sam we'll do it in the shower later..."

"Sir, please, I am begging you to do it now. In... in the shower I'm always so high, your cock is so lathered it has a different feel. A... a different feel that what R.G. and Hawk talk about... about you coming in raw and hot. Even Lu has laughed with them about how raw and hot you can be... I'm sure you and Lundy have done...."

"Sam, I know how your family used you in their brothels... I know there are things we have tried to do in the past that have totally terrified you... that is why we do it in the shower. It is something new, something you've never experienced with anyone else. I don't go in 'raw and hot' with any of them. They may think that, if I haven't prepared them right, or if I'm just in a hurry for a quick fuck. I love... make love with each of you in a different way. Each of you are unique...." Joey stopped and looked at the pain on Sam's face. The pains of wanting to be like everyone else.

"What I'd really like to do is wake Levon. He was raped Sam. He is probably beginning to think I don't want him because of that. And I do. I want to come in his ass so bad... so bad... and I want you too, Sam... want to suck you off. Watching you have him just now made me realize that I've never seen anyone suck you off. I want to be the one to do that Sam; can we do that instead? Later when there is just the two of us... I'll come - raw and hot - in you."

Joey smiled as he quietly touched his partner's shoulder. "Levon? You ready for me - or you want to just sleep?"

"Both. Want you in me... want to sleep..." Lundy purred turning his face toward the sound of his lover's voice.

"Sleep," Joey whispered, looking at Levon's face beamed in peaceful joy. Joe noticed the breakfast tray had disappeared and knew that Hummer had come up to check on things.

"Okay, Shadow, get a couple of towels and put them down in the closet - you're going to get your wish."

Retrieving a tube of lube from the nightstand, Joey turned to watch Sam Jones carry two large beach towels into the closet. He noticed the hard-on Sam had and searched his mind for any time he or someone else had given Shadow a blow job. Smiling to himself, the Italian decided this Marine lover of his who had been celibate for the last nine years was about to be the recipient of some mind blowing sex.

Gently touching Sam's shoulder, Joey said, "I don't do dog style, Sam, on your feet." Remembering how he and Levon had done it for the first time, Joey pushed Sam up against the wall and began fingering the man's balls. When Shadow started to protest LaFiamma grabbed a handful of curly black hair and moved the mouth to his starting a deep French kiss that wilted the New Yorker to the floor. Still the kiss continued, continued until Sam's body began twisting against him. Releasing his lover's mouth Joey moved back spreading the man's legs, he moved between them.

Joey paused for a split second before dropping his head and capturing Shadow's penis in his mouth.

Sam's shoulders, his head shot up staring at the head bobbing up and down at his groin. This was his job not the Major's... but the words he tried to speak came out garbled.

Joey stopped momentarily and looked up, his teeth holding the captured cock tight. Sam stared into the sparkling blue loving mischievous eyes, moaning he lay back down. Never before had he experienced what he did for others. Never before until now. Sam's mind soared, being celibate all these years had been worth it. He had had his lover's main man and he wasn't in trouble for it, and now his lover was... was... oh, mama, it feels so good.

Joey dropped the spent penis, letting it fall onto Sam's belly. His tongue caressed along a rib line up to a nipple to the throat to the open mouth of the Marine that had been trained since the age of ten to work in his family's brothels satisfying others needs. Joey realized that this lover of his was very special and from this point in time the Italian vowed to do more than just enjoy the man in the shower.

"Shadow, you still with me?" LaFiamma whispered, asking his delirious lover to roll over.

Straddling Sam, Joey laid his hard edged sword against the olive skin under him. He turned to the lube he had taken from the dresser and generously applied some around his cock.

Joey looked down at Shadow the man who wanted it like everyone else, as his fingers spread Sam's butt cheeks. Sam's head jerked up, but no sound came from his throat as Joey thrust his cock through the tight opening. LaFiamma slid back slow until only the head was in, and then thrust again and again egged on by the soft moans of pleasure escaping from Sam Jones' lips. The Italian was just at the peak for release when he heard his partner call his name.

"LaFiamma?" Lundy moaned just as Joey poised himself over Shadow's ass for the final thrust of total release.

Checking on the purring man under him, LaFiamma gnawed on Shadow's left shoulder as he eased his penis out. Springing back onto his haunches, holding his cock close to his body LaFiamma moved quickly back to his bed immediately entering the ass being offered him.

Shadow relishing in the pleasure, the pain of the entrance moaned as his lover pumped hard into him. So engrossed in the pleasure of the moment Sam didn't even know his lover had left.

Joey's erection came quickly and the Italian lay moaning atop his partner. Nipping on an earlobe Joey whispered into the Texan's ear, "Levon, I love you so, don't leave me. Don't ever leave me."

Joey waited a few minutes before leaving his bed, then taking one of the blankets at the foot of the bed he wrapped it around him and walked down the spiral staircase to the couch.

[][][][][][][]

A sound he didn't recognize awoke Sam Jones. He moved slowly, his body aching in places that hadn't hurt before. Pulling himself to a sitting position he looked around the area wondering where he was. It was Levon's voice croaking LaFiamma's name that brought him back to reality and the pleasure that had gone down earlier.

"Joe? Sam?" Levon groused, "anybody here? Man, I was suppose to be on duty an hour ago."

Using the door frame, Shadow pulled himself to a standing position and walked into LaFiamma's loft bedroom. "Levon - you okay?" Sam asked as he stretched out the kinks. "Where's LaFiamma?"

"Damned if I know. He shouldn't have let me sleep. I'm supposed to be on duty. Damn, I'm going to get in trouble for this."

"I thought he was your boss now. If he let you sleep, it must be okay. How's that working - putting substations around the city, with a lieutenant in each one? You know the Major is going to have a problem answering to 'Lieutenant' cause it's been a long time since he was one." Sam said walking into the bathroom to take a pee.

"Yeah, we've been talking about that at Reisner," Levon answered, pushing the sheet back. "Some of the guys dubbed to be lieutenants aren't so sure they want the responsibility that goes with the job. The brass is thinking of changing it to a different rank. LaFiamma even suggested using the European term of 'Inspector' instead of Lieutenant... telling the brass that in most cities you can't be a lieutenant unless you pass exams."

"Inspector LaFiamma - hey, I like that," Shadow laughed. "How about a shower? It would save on water if we took one together."

"Sure, why not." Levon replied, allowing Shadow to pull him to his feet.

Lundy stood in the hot shower amazed that he was hard again. Shadow stood before him lathering the Texan's arms, chest, and hair with soap. Hands slid over him, caressing him, and fingers were working his ass. Sam twisted the flexible shower hose off its clip and rinsed the blond hair, and the soap off Levon's upper body. Replacing the hose he knelt down in front of the erect penis in front of him his mouth just covering the head, just a tantalizing lick as Sam lathered the detective's legs.

Levon's eyes shot open as he was pulled gently to the floor of the shower, water spraying his face. He wondered whose legs were trapped over Samuel Jones's shoulders, and when he tried to move Lundy discovered they were his legs. The blond stared up in bewilderment watching Shadow suck him, listening to the sound of it, and watching the man's throat muscles; the talent of this man awed Levon. The blond head jerked from side to side as a large wet soapy object began to push into his anus. When he asked what it was, he was told no questions, just enjoy. Levon closed his eyes and let the pleasure flow through him, never had he been given a blow job like this before.

Downstairs in the laundry room off the kitchen, Hummer was losing his virginity to a very determined Major. It had taken a lot of seduction to get Jake to undress. Jake Hummerstein had only been naked in front of two people since he was thirteen years old. Not since his mother discovered the ugly scars on his back from the beatings his stepfather had been giving him. Jake had heard Lundy say that his father had beat him with a board when he was in drunken stupor's, but Jake knew his scars were worse than anybody's. That is what the doctor had told his mother, that they were the worse the doctor had ever seen and the way they healed, it was too late to fix them. But now he was in the arms of the man he admired and loved more than any other human being in the world. He'd been ashamed when LaFiamma had pulled off his tee sheet, but instead of pity the Major gave him love.

"Jake, we all have scars," Joey whispered quietly, holding Hummer in his arms kissing him tenderly on the neck and throat. "It's what is inside the body that is important, not the body itself. Some people might be prettier than others might, but a lot of pretty people aren't pretty inside. And the doctor was wrong, Jake - those scars, in today's medicine can be taken care of. I want you to promise me to let Doctor Baker have a look at them."

"My mom took me to a...." Jake protested, remembering the embarrassment of his Marine physical and the questions that were asked.

"Jake, you can't go swimming in an undershirt all your life," LaFiamma said, tilting Jake's chin to finish their kiss.

Pulling back from the kiss Hummer screwed his buttocks tighter around the sword. At long last he was connected to this man they called Handsome. At long last he understood what others talked about when they moaned about having the Major's cock inside them. Jake looked at the man he loved. The man that so many of his Marine buddies loved.

"My mother was a really good Jewish lady. She just ended up with two bad husbands. My dad left us when I was ten. Just left for work one day and never came home again. It took a couple of years for her to get a divorce, and then she married again, and - and that man didn't think I was being brought up Jewish enough. Whatever that means. I had had my bar mitzvah and that stuff. Was active in the synagogue. Did all the right things according to my mother, but it didn't satisfy him. We'd come home from church and he'd asked me to help him with something in the garage, and my mother would go in the house and start getting us something to eat. He'd take off his belt, take his handkerchief out of his pocket and stuff it in my mouth so she wouldn't hear, then he'd start hitting me, telling me all the things I did wrong. I went to the Rabbi once to try to tell him, but he won't listen, said it was a family matter."

"When did your mom find out what was happening?" Joe asked tearfully, wiping the wetness off both their cheeks.

"They were married about six months when he started hitting me. Then for their first anniversary my mother was planning something big and asked me to go somewhere with my step dad and I said no. Said I didn't want to be alone with him. That I couldn't take what he was doing to me. Told her I couldn't understand why she was letting him do it."

"And she asked you what he was doing." LaFiamma asked quietly, tenderly wiping the tears off Jake's cheeks.

"Yeah. All that time I thought... I thought she knew what was going on. Knew why I had blood on my shirts. She didn't. When I lifted up my shirt and showed her my back she almost fainted. I had to catch her. She changed the locks on the house while he was at work, and called the police when he pounded on the door to try to get in. Only the doctor she took me too, the doc at the Marine physical and now you have seen the scars."

"The scars are why you get up at two in the morning to shower? So no one will see them?"

"Yes, sir," Hummer said dropping his chin to his chest.

"Jake Hummerstein, you are so special," Joey purred, two fingers going under Hummer's chin to raise it up for another kiss. "You are one of the finest Marines I've ever had the pleasure to know and to serve with... God doesn't make junk, Jake. Whatever the man told you - he was wrong. You are not bad. You are not junk. Everyone picks up scars along life's trail; some are visible like yours and mine. Some are up here," Joey whispered touching his forehead. "To me your scars would be easier to live with... they're fixable. Mine is there for life."

LaFiamma's arms encircled Jake and he gently eased him backward onto the tile floor. "Now let's get back to you losing your virginity." Joey whispered making one last thrust to empty his cum into the warm confines of Jake's ass.

"I think I already have, sir. If your sword gets in me any more, it will be sticking out my nose."

Drying each other off, Shadow and Levon were startled to hear LaFiamma's laughter come from somewhere below them.

Sam Jones froze at the sound. He figured the Major had left for the house signing and...  _[Oh shit!]_

"You think he'll be mad... us doing it again," Levon asked seeing the fear on Sam's face.

"God, I hope not, I couldn't take what Hawk went through, being here but not being able to touch him."

Hearing the movement above him, LaFiamma pulled himself out of Hummer, offered him a hand and said, "Come on, they're out of the shower, now it's our turn."

Looking around for his shirt, Hummer eyes protested when LaFiamma's hands and words told him no.

"Just like you are, come on... up the stairs to the shower."

"But they will see me."

"They see you everyday."

"But not... naked!"

LaFiamma gestured down his body from his neck to his toes. "You see any difference between us - we're plumbed the same right? They won't say anything. Trust me."

"Can I at least take my clothes with me and leave them on the bed?"

Joey nodded yes and turned to open the laundry room door. "Come on, new Harem member, up the stairs with you!"

Levon saw Sam's surprise at seeing a naked Hummer coming up the stairs. "No one's ever -- seen him naked," Shadow said in a barely audible whisper.

Lundy and Jones watched Hummer lay his clothes on the bed and walk into the shower. It was then that they saw the ugly criss-crossing scars across his back and buttocks.

Seeing Levon's stressed face, LaFiamma explained quietly and quickly how the marks got there, and asked the two men not to make a big deal about them. That Hummer had been ashamed for too long about marks that were not his fault.

Joe started into the shower, then stopped. He turned and looked back at the two men. "You two shower together?" The Italian questioned looking directly into Shadow's eyes.

"Yes, Sir," Shadow croaked, expecting the worse.

"You know it's cheaper that way, LaFiamma," Levon ventured not reading the look on his partner's face.

"You like doing it with him?" The Major asked Sam, looking directly into the frightened black eyes in front of him.

"Of course he liked it!" Levon growled, "I ain't just anybody - I'm your main man!"

LaFiamma stepped back to where Shadow stood, still holding the towel he'd been wiping Levon with. "Do you like doing it with him?" Joey repeated, reaching down with one hand to grab hold of Sam's cock.

Shadow opened his mouth but no words came. He closed his eyes tight as the hand continued to squeeze. "I-I like doing it... with both of you... sir." Sam squeaked out, his eyes opening when the pressure on his penis was released.

Sam Jones couldn't believe what he was seeing - his Major was smiling. Smiling! "Sir?"

Then his Major was kissing him.... "Just make sure you don't squeeze me out of the picture, okay?" Joey replied turning back to go into the shower with Hummer.

"You're not mad?" Shadow gasped disbelieving. "Not going to throw me out?"

"Let's just say I've mellowed over time, Sam. I'm the only family that Levon has now. If you two enjoy making love together then you have my blessing - just leave room in there for me - if you suddenly cut me off and aren't available - you'll be out of here. Both of you."

"But I thought - I mean when Hawk ---" Shadow stammered remembering what happened when Handsome caught Hawk in bed with someone else.

"Hawk was unfaithful with someone outside the fold. Someone I didn't approve of... someone I had refused entry to our Special Ops Unit. Whether that man baited Hawk into going to bed with him, I don't know. But fact was he did."

"Will Hawk ever be back in the fold?" Hummer asked from behind them.

"Gerald is tracking Hawk, Jingles and Trap as we speak. Now can I get my shower I need to be at a house closing that I thought was tomorrow but my calendar says it is today."

"Yeah, LaFiamma how come you let me sleep, I'm way overdue at Reisner." Levon growled taking the towel from Shadow so he could finish drying his hair.

"If you read your mail Lundy you would know that you aren't at Reisner all week. You are to be at the Southwest substation by ten thirty, and the Northwest substation by one thirty. I sent you a memo asking you to look over both areas. Gave you a list of men who were going to be assigned, and asked you to give me a lay of the land... help with the decision on which of the territories you and I are going to be in charge of."

"In charge of? Me?" Lundy gasped as he struggled to put on his shorts.

"I told Beaumont I'd be carpet inspector one... only if you could continue to be my partner on the road." LaFiamma replied as he stepped into the shower.

"They're going with Inspector?"

"Don't know what they're going with Lundy. I told Joanne and the Captain that I probably wouldn't answer to Lieutenant since it had been years that I'd been one, and they needed to find a more generic title. Two of the four cops they tapped for this have already backed down. Now get dressed and go to Reisner and read your mail, and get to where you are suppose to be." LaFiamma replied, closing the shower door behind him.

[][][][][][][][]

Sergeant Harold "Hawk" Feldman stood silently in front of the paymaster. He could not understand why he hadn't been paid like everyone else. Why his name wasn't on any work roster... why he was suddenly a non person on the base he'd spent the last year on.

"It looks like, son, that you're not stationed here anymore," Captain James Darling replied ruffling through the stack of papers on his desk.

"Yeah, but - I was given a week off and now that I'm back, I'm not here?" Feldman gasped in a horrified voice.

"According to this fax we received last night, you are listed as AWOL from a Special Operations Unit in Houston."

"AWOL!" Hawk squawked, fear in his voice. "Major LaFiamma said he was assigning some of us to a unit there but...."

"Sit down, Feldman, I'll see what I can find out. I doubt you will be taken back in chains," Captain Darling said with a grin.

"You don't know Major LaFiamma, Sir." Hawk said eyeing two MPs pacing outside the window.

Hawk watched the two MPs walk into the Paymaster office. He didn't like the frown that crossed Captain Darling's face as he talked with the two men. He knew they were there for him when Darling nodded in his direction.

"You known as Hawk?" One of them asked, while the other looked Hawk over.

"Yes Sir," Sergeant Feldman mumbled finding he had no voice.

"We have orders to escort you back to Houston to a Special Operations Unit that is being set up there. Our boss said your Major wasn't too happy when he discovered you weren't around."

"I had no orders to stay," Hawk ventured, "none that I knew about." Hawk blinked remembering too late LaFiamma's words and his fingers pointing to him and two others while the Major was still in his hospital bed.  _['You are now assigned to me! Gerald is taking care of the paper work. You have two days to go back to your base pick up your things and get your asses back here."]_

"Oh shit," Hawk muttered under his breath, remembering the words of his Major, realizing he'd been invited back to the harem and had totally missed the invitation. Seeing the looks of those around him, Hawk offered, "just hope he doesn't hang me naked in the woods like he did the last guy that was AWOL."

Walking into the barracks accompanied by two MPs was the second most embarrassing moment Harold Feldman had ever felt. They stood on either side of the door as he walked to his bunk, pulled out his footlocker and packed. Feldman watched his Harley, duffel bag and footlocker being loaded onto a small van, his breath stopped when handcuffs and ankle shackles were strapped on. He gave the cops a questioning look and they said it was standard procedure for anyone who was being transported. Hawk was informed the van would be loaded directly onto a plane and flown to Houston. Locked into a bucket seat inside the van, Hawk remembered the most embarrassing time of his life - the day Captain LaFiamma caught him in bed with someone else. LaFiamma had grabbed him around one ankle and jerked him out of the bed and unto the floor. Then Hawk had been dragged stark naked through Joe's Ops unit to the showers. Hawk still had a scar on his butt from the floor burn, a scar that every day reminded him of his stupidity.

He and LaFiamma had rough sex together. He liked it rough, the rougher the better. He had offered himself that way to his Captain and his Captain had taken it. Hawk never understood why he liked being a love slave but his Captain never refused him any pleasure, even when LaFiamma himself questioned what Hawk wanted, he obliged his lover with the pleasure of it. And if his Captain drew blood, that made Hawk even hotter for the man.

Harold moved in the seat to get more comfortable amazed that he was still strapped in the van and the plane was already airborne. Maybe Handsome would punish him for being AWOL. The thought brought a smile to Feldman's face and heat to his groin.

[][][][][][][][]

The house closing had gone off without a hitch. Papers were signed and the realtor had been blown away when she discovered Joe was paying cash for the house. Reluctantly Hummer had allowed Doctor Baker to examine the wounds on his back. Hummer couldn't believe it when he was told most of them could be made invisible by plastic surgery, though it would take time. In front of everyone Hummer had embraced LaFiamma thanking him profusely for making him a new man.

Joe and Lucia had only a few private moments together before they parted. Lu had to go back to San Antonio to finish packing her apartment, pick up her discharge papers and do any last minute training of her replacement.

[][][][][][][][]

LaFiamma reached over and ruffled Hummer's hair. The Marine glanced in Joe's direction a broad grin on his face. "You had a chance to read any of the letters in the package yet, sir?"

"Just Lucia's." Joey answered retracting his hand to pick up the ringing cell phone.

"LaFiamma. Yeah, Gerald," Joe answered all his attention going to what Gerald was telling him.

{V.O.} "I found Hawk. He's been back at his base all this time. They found him in the Paymaster's office trying to find out why he wasn't getting paid or on any duty roster. They detained him this morning and he is already an hour into the flight here. They told me it is standard procedure to shackle every AWOL they transport. He won't be released to anyone but you, and you will have to sign a release accepting him before he'll be uncuffed."

"What about Jethro and Trevor? You find them yet?" Joey asked.

{V.O.} "Jingles is on his way to the Philippines... but I talked with General Callahan, told him the men we needed to make this Unit operational, and he said he'd take care of getting them here. He also said he wants to go through the house as a trainee, and is going to issue orders for some other brass go to through it."

"Whoa... that will be an experience for us... give hell to a General or two. Got anything else?" Joey answered with a whistle.

{V.O.} "One other thing, Warsaw called. His wife wants to move to Houston to be closer to her parents... he wants in on whatever you can use him for. I told him we could probably find a place for him. Figured the control booth would be one, and with his artistic skills I think he could replace some of the things Smith did. Once we find out how to stop Smith's programming."

"Hawk's coming back?" Hummer asked excitedly as he pulled into Smith's driveway.

"I told him, when I told you and Shadow, when I was still in the hospital that he was. Must have blown right by him. You know how he likes to have it - Smith's kinky playroom will now be Hawk's playroom," Joey replied smiling, thinking about how his was going to punish Feldman when he arrived.

[][][][][][][][][]

LaFiamma looked around R.G.'s apartment. When they had been there two weeks ago the walls were plain except for the mosaic of two men lying together. Now Gerald sat at a computer in the corner of the living room, and there was a large screen television set in the opposite corner. The section sofa had been divided into two separate couches. Amazing how deceptive it was from the outside. Maybe it was the density of the trees around the place.

"Gerald, is Hawk's playroom and my dressing room ready?" Joey asked walking out of the control room to the picture window that overlooked the back of the house and its swimming pool.

"It's ready, Joe. You talked to the guy who put it together, right." Gerald replied, wondering how anyone could have sexual pleasure with some of the things that were in there.

"Yeah... and I found out that Smith was the one who was going to be the slave, as they call it. That surprised me. Maybe that is where he got his kinky ideas... they were being done to him by someone else, so he picked his own men and did it to them." Joey said gazing with interest at the pool below.

"I like the way you roped off the driveway," Joey continued, "so whoever comes has to come to the back. Where's Shadow? He should have been here by now."

"He called to say everyone had left and he had no transportation from your place here," R.G. answered, asking his Major for a hug and receiving one.

"What about his bike? Was it stolen?" LaFiamma questioned walking to the phone next to the computer to dial his place.

"Shadow, where the hell are you?" LaFiamma barked into the phone. Hearing Sam's feeble excuse, he continued sourly, "You and Levon get so hot you forgot about your Harley? You know that bike that is never out of your sight except when you are in bed with someone! Now get on it and get your ass out here!"

Joey dropped the phone and watched it rock in its cradle. He could already feel R.G.'s eyes on his back. Jake knew about Sam and Levon but R.G. didn't, and Joey knew that R.G. loved his partner too.  _[Damned if this isn't turning into the duo detective's harem.]_

"Jake, you and R.G. go down to the parking area and wait for Hawk, he should be coming any time."

"Hawk's coming?" R.G. bubbled anxiously pushing what he'd heard about Levon out of his mind.

Stopping in front of the sandy haired man, Joey tilted his chin and kissed the open mouth, "Hawk's coming from San Diego... and don't worry you will get your time with Levon. It just happened that Shadow had him first. You and Shadow are the only Marines he is interested in, other than me, I want you to make sure no one else makes passes at him. You hear?"

Walking to the kitchen table to pick up one of the hand held radios, Joe added, "be sure you each have one of these at all times when you are out on the property. It is our only way of communication - the same as if we were on any mission. In fact, General Callahan wants to make this into a Special Operations Training Unit, as soon as we can get Smith's bugs out of the place."

"Now get down there and wait for our two delinquents while I change my clothes."

Joey returned to stare at the swimming pool.

"Somethin' bothering you about the pool, Joe?" Gerald said turning away from the computer.

"I just watched part of the backup tape of Shadow in that room. Just as he went down the tube a video of Smith came on. He was standing at pool side with an older man, and then gives him a shove." LaFiamma stopped short. "Oh god, did his house in D.C. have a pool?"

"It does, but he never let anyone go swimm... Joe! You don't think....!?" Gerry gasped horrified at what he thought might be true.

"Put out an immediate alert on that thing," LaFiamma said pointing to the computer. "I'll call the Washington D.C. police - oh Mary Mother of God, please don't let any children be in there."

Gerald typed furiously putting every urgent alarm code he knew in the message. Even ones that would set off alarms on the receiver units. Then he listened to LaFiamma identified himself as Lieutenant Joseph LaFiamma of the Houston Police Department, and also a Marine on temporary duty in Houston. He shared the information he had just discovered. Gerry watched Joey's face change.

Color drained from Joe's tanned face, his head nodded up and down, then Gerry heard Joey say, "Throw five pounds of frozen hamburger in or get a butcher to donate a hunk of meat. If you're missing people in that neighborhood, or animals... their bones could be in the bottom of that pool. My assistant has already contacted our Marine commander, General Michael Callahan."

Joey gave the number and Gerald's name to the officer on the other end of the line, then hung up. Looking at the red-haired man opposite him, LaFiamma said slowly, "The family who bought the house is missing their daughter and new son-in-law. They went for a midnight swim and no one's seen them since. Some neighborhood kids went swimming while the house was empty - they disappeared. What other madness has this man perpetrated?"

"He's going to call you back when they learn anything. I'm going to change and get ready for Hawk's arrival."

Joey stood in his changing room, looking at himself in the mirror. The mirrored image showed a man in black jeans, black boots, and a black muscle shirt with gold oak leaves at the shoulder, and a dual holster, a gun under each arm. "Damn... I'm even a turn-on to me," he said with a laugh as his radio crackled with his name.

The military police van with a California Marine logo drove around the circle drive and stopped just short of the two Marines in camouflaged service uniforms. The driver stepped out and identified himself. Hummer asked to see the prisoner. At first the driver refused, but when he was told the officer in charge would not come forth until he saw the prisoner they obliged. R.G. grinned as he watched the two MP's look around searching for movement.

From his vantage point in the barn, LaFiamma watched the van's sliding door open. A half smile crossed his face as Hawk was eased out, blinking in the bright Texas sun. "Damn, they didn't have to shackle his hands, and his feet." He muttered. "Still this will prepare him for what he is really hot for."

LaFiamma started down from the barn as Hummer radioed him a second time.

"DAMN, WHO THE HELL IS THAT?" The driver of the van yelped as LaFiamma walked toward them.

Hummer, R.G. and Hawk all turned to look. "Damn he's good looking." Hawk gasped at the sight of the lover he missed so much.

"That, gentlemen," Hummer offered, "is the officer in charge of this Special Operations Unit... Major LaFiamma."

Joey barely glanced at Hawk as he approached the group. "Unshackle him!" LaFiamma ordered when he reached the group.

"Need to sign this papers first. Then we'll unload his stuff."

"UNSHACKLE-HIM--NOW!" LaFiamma bellowed into the face of the MP that was barely a head taller than he was. Joey inwardly grinned as the man dropped his paperwork and fumbled for the keys to unlock Hawk. The other MP hustled to the back of the van, opened it, and began to unload Feldman's footlocker, duffel bag and motorcycle.

Joey waited. It gave him an inner glow to watch the MP tremble as he unlocked the prisoner.  _[Damn, I miss this authority. Maybe I should just be a Marine and give up being a cop.]_

"Check all your stuff, Feldman." Joey ordered, still refusing to sign any papers. When Hawk affirmed that everything was there, LaFiamma signed in triplicate that he had received the prisoner.

Handing the clipboard back to the driver, Joey turned his attention to Harold Feldman. "STRIP TO YOUR UNDERWEAR, FELDMAN!" LaFiamma barked loudly, boring holes into the confused face in front of him. "NOW!"

The two MPs looked at each, each remembering what Hawk had said in California about this Major hanging someone upside-down naked in the woods for being AWOL. Swallowing they hustled into the van and left.

"Hummer, R.G., take his things into the Harem's bunkhouse. Claim him an end bunk. Then put his bike under lock and key in the garage. Gerald's got a key."

Hawk was fumbling with his clothes. He couldn't get them off. His hands and his legs were stiff from sitting so long, but he knew LaFiamma wouldn't cut him any slack. Harold glanced up, Joe was standing at parade rest just a few feet away, studying him, and this made him all the more nervous.

"Hand me your clothes," the Major said tightly, holding out one hand to collect the items as they were stripped off. "Shoes and socks, too."

"Sir, I haven't walked barefoot on this type of...."

"Shoes and socks too!" LaFiamma repeated angrily. "And when you walk to where you saw me come from - you will walk with your hands clasped behind your head. You were given two days to go back to your base and pick up your things, Feldman. You have been gone for six weeks. Six weeks! What do you think your punishment should be for that? This time it will be my choice, not yours. Do you understand me?"

"Yes SIR," Hawk answered, his face beaming with anticipation of the sex he longed to have with this man. "I deserve whatever you give me sir."

They walked silently, LaFiamma behind Feldman. Hawk was almost to the red door of the barn when he faltered, going down on one knee. LaFiamma stepped back, his face solemn, he watched as Hawk struggled to get his feet under him. Joey knew the man was tired from the long plane ride, but he also knew this lover. This lover would not take help if it were offered.

"On your feet Hawk-man... or I'll push your face in the dirt."

"Sir... I... I need help." Hawk croaked his head touching his knee.

Joey waited five minutes before shifting Feldman's clothes under his arm. Stepping forward, one hand roughly grabbed Hawk's buttocks; the other reached around to the crotch. Feldman's mouth opened and closed, a bare gasp escaped from his throat, his head snapped back against Joe's shoulder as he was lifted to his feet. "I've got something special for you Feldman. Just for you."

Hawk stood just inside the barn, he looked down the aisle not understanding why they just didn't walk in. He jumped as LaFiamma took his hand and placed it on a sensor pad on the wall. Joey held the hand firm, punching in a code so that the next time Hawk came into the area all he would have to do is put his hand on the sensor.

Seeing Hawk's confused look LaFiamma explained the laser security system. And that from now on all he had to do was place his hand on the pad to allow him through.

Releasing the hand, Joey pointed to a black painted door and told Feldman to put his hand on the sensor next to it. Hawk was startled when the door opened by itself.

"Inside." LaFiamma followed his lover into the room, grinning as Hawk scanned the place. "Put your underwear on that chair." Joey said pointing to a straight-backed chair next to the door.

"You... you built this for me?" Hawk humbly asked, as he stepped out of his shorts. "Sir...I...god sir, I didn't know you loved me this much."

Stepping nose to nose to the naked man, Joey replied, "Smith built it for someone. We don't know who. I refused to allow them to take it down. I like what we do together. You will be punished for the worry you have caused me, Feldman," Joey said quietly staring into Hawk's sparkling gray-green eyes; just the talk of it was making Hawk hard.

LaFiamma allowed this lover to look around the room. Nodding to the man when asked if he could walk the room.

Hawk swallowed giving the place quick look. The room was bigger than the average bedroom. A round mattress was on a platform to the right of the door. He walked to the opposite corner to look at what looked like a chair, his eyes widened as he approached. It was far more than a chair, it had a built in penis that would enter you as you sat on it. Leg irons... "Master... may we start here?"

When no answer was forthcoming Hawk continued his investigation. "What's this green button do?

"Stand on the X on the floor in front of it... push it and see."

Instantly, invisibly, his feet, ankles were bound and in a flash he was hanging upside down, swinging sideways like a flag in the wind. It happened so quickly that Hawk didn't have time to respond. Joey waited until the dangling man stopped swinging before walking over to him. Taking a small remote from his jeans' pocket, LaFiamma began to slowly spread Hawk's legs apart, farther and farther until the man screamed for him to stop. But the master continued until skin was stretched to the limit.

"You've gotten soft in nine years, Feldman. No matter. You came to be punished and I will not disappoint you."

Joey still did not understand why this type of treatment turned a man on, but as he stared at Hawk's bulging aroused cock he knew he liked the power to produce it. Major LaFiamma trailed his fingers lightly over Hawk's thighs, buttocks and chest, lightly tantalizing this man from the California North Country. The fingers continued up and down, round and round never touching vital points, until gurgling sounds came from Hawk's throat. Just as Feldman was beginning to settle into the leisurely motion of the hand, Joey stepped back and punched the green button with his fist. Hawk screamed as his position was reversed, hands above him, toes barely touching the floor.

Joey stood opposite Hawk, a sly smile on his face. "Scream all you want, Feldman. This room is sound proof."

Punching the green button a third time, Joey watched as Hawk fell to the floor in a heap. "Come on... Hawkman... crawl like a spider over to that chair you were so interested in. Come on! HUSTLE! HUSTLE! You want the whip on that shining butt of yours?"

Hawk was sweating by the time he reached the chair. Staring at it he dared not move until he was told to, he swallowed as he looked at the thing. It wasn't the shape of the chair that worried him; it was the penis shaped thing he was going to have to sit on that worried him. When he questioned his master about it, he got a back handed slap across his face. When his head recovered from the blow he found his lover kneeling next to him.

Joey grabbed Hawk by the hair, jerking his head toward him, ignoring the red mark his hand had made on the man's face. "YOU DON'T QUESTION ME IN THIS ROOM, FELDMAN... EVER! Outside this room, yes. Here NO. You are a wanton, hungry, horny sex slave. You do my bidding remember. Whatever I want to do to punish you, is what you said, remember? You will question nothing. Now put you mouth on that cock and wet it down... or you sit on it raw. Your choice."

LaFiamma leaned back as Hawk covered the plastic penis with his mouth, watching the reaction when Hawk discovered it wasn't hard plastic but pliable. Wetting two of his own fingers Joe inserted them into Hawk's ass. Feldman's head jerked but he continued his sucking, tears of happiness flowing down his face that his Major still loved him.

"That's enough. Stand up, spread yourself and sit." LaFiamma ordered as he unzipped his own jeans and released his own throbbing cock.

Hawk's eyes widened at the object in front of him. He knew what he would be asked to do and he was ready... oh was he ready. But his lover was moving away from him... what had he done. "Master, what... what have I done?"

Joey retrieved the remote from his pocket and clicked it twice. Two small stools came out of the wall on either side of the chair, at the same height as the chair. The Italian told Hawk to put a foot on each stool. He watched as Feldman grimaced. The stretch was beyond what the man was used to. Joe moved to one ankle then the other strapping them both tight.

"You want this?" LaFiamma teased taking his cock in his hand and rubbing it across the bottom of Hawk's foot.

"YES... OH YES!" Hawk pleaded his head bobbing down in an attempt to catch the cock as it worked up his leg to his chest.

"No, no... master where are you going?" Hawk screamed as Joe rose to his feet and walked to the door. His cries grew silent when he saw his master stop at the chair by the door and begin to undress.

"What will you do it get this, Hawkman?" Joey asked huskily, returning to his slave. Roughly Joey shoved Hawk back against the wall as he straddled the man. LaFiamma grabbed fists full of hair, holding Hawk's head in place as he rubbed his cock up and down the man's chest. Across the nipples hard as beads. Against the neck. Behind the ear.

"Anything! Anything my master wants! I will do anything to swallow my master's sword again!" Hawk's whole being was crazed for the touch of his master. "Please, Major... please let me taste it again, please...!"

Joey smiled and moved back. "Anything?"

"Anything. I'll do anything!" Came the plead.

LaFiamma dropped to the floor grabbing Hawk's throbbing penis in his hands. His fingers worked around the head, tweaking the edges. "Will you suck yourself off?"

Hawk gulped, Joe had asked him to do that before and his muscles had hurt for weeks from the stretch. "Can't.... Can't I do something else? I... I'm out of shape for that... sir."

Joey sprang to his feet and moved his cock close to Hawk's head. The man's mouth hungrily grabbed for it, sucking it, swallowing it bit by bit. Moans of pleasure, satisfaction escaped from Hawk as he began to swallow more and more of the sword. But as quickly as it had been given to him, it was taken away, and again LaFiamma was on his knees in front of him.

Joey tilted his head in Hawk's direction; his hand encircled his slave's bulging cock. "No more... until you empty this one."

Joey held the cock firmly while Hawk moved forward stretching his hands down to his ankles. Slowly his mouth covered the head and part of the shaft, his back muscles strained against the awkward position. As he moved in his seat to get a more comfortable position he was suddenly aware that the penis he was sitting on had grown in size. Each time he moved, it grew and throbbed and pulsed inside him.

Joey held his lover's cock with one hand, and gently wiped the sweat from his forehead with the other. "You need a haircut, my love." Joey whispered, bending to nibble of Hawk's earlobe. Joe's hand traveled down his lover's spine gently soothing sore muscles. "Can't drop it until it falls from your mouth, love. Don't take too long, we have other work to do... come on lover I know you can suck it better than that... let me hear it."

Hawk strained for his cock swallowing as much as his body allowed him to move.  _[He loves me. He loves me. He really loves me.]_  Noisily Hawk sucked, raking his teeth across the length, but he couldn't get himself off. He sobbed as it bounced from his mouth. He wanted LaFiamma's cock so bad, and now he would never have it.

"Easy, my love, easy." Joey cooed embracing Hawk, holding him tight.

"I can't do it. I can't." Feldman sobbed tears rolling down his cheeks. "I'll never get you, will I?"

"You're tired," Joey replied quietly, "rest there, we'll do it later... no rush."

"Please Major... Master... please let me finish you! Pleasse... I've waited so long. Please don't take the sword away, again. Pleeassse!" Hawk screeched, the words echoing around the room.

"You know the rules, Hawk - you made them. No matter how you plead, or beg, no sword until you finish yourself. Shadow should be here by now. He'll take care of it."

Joey bounced to his feet. He had no intention of having Sam Jones suck him off, but he turned and began a slow walk to the door.

"JOO-EEEY! PLEEASE....I MADE IT HARD.... HE DIDN'T! IT'S MINE! PLEASE. I WAS BAD! I-I AM SORRY I MADE YOU WORRY. I'M SORRY I MISSED THE INVITE YOU GAVE ME TO COME BACK TO THE FOLD. TAKE THE WHIP TO ME! ANYTHING... BUT PLEASE DON'T GIVE IT TO SOMEONE ELSE... PLEASE!" Hawk screamed his voice cracking at times. The worse punishment he ever had from his Captain was this... this that was happening right now... a hard-on he made going to someone else.

LaFiamma stopped halfway to the door; slowly turning he looked at his distraught Marine lover. Hawk's face was wet with tears, his cock... his cock was beginning to leak.

"Well, I guess we could try it one more time. Just one. If you can't finish yourself, the sword goes to Shadow."

"I'll finish it. I will." Hawk exclaimed excitement running through him like a river cresting over a dam.

Joey knelt in front of Hawk again, firmly holding the man's cock in place with one hand, while his other hand massaged strained back muscles. "Suckle it. Lick it. Wrap your tongue around. Work it into your throat. That's it... that's it. Swallow slow... slow." Joey encouraged his lover as he placed light kisses on the man's neck and shoulders.

LaFiamma smiled as Feldman's cock dropped from the man's mouth limp and spent. "Ready for me now?"

"Oh, yes, Sir. Yes... bring on the sword," Hawk replied leaning back against the wall, smiling as his lover stepped forward.

"Grab hold of those rings, my love," Joey whispered huskily, his tongue stroking across Hawk's lips. "One for each hand... that's it... now give them a tug."

Hawk's smile faded as his hands became encased in the wall.

Joey moved slowly onto the chair, his knees straddling his lover. Firmly holding Hawk's head, LaFiamma covered his mouth over Feldman's, pushing his tongue inside, stroking the roof of the mouth. Under him Feldman began to squirm and as he squirmed the sensors in the chair activated the penis. The chair's penis grew, swelling to match the opening it was in.

Hawk was locked in. His hands and feet immobilized. He relished the kiss but he wanted to touch the man kissing him. He wanted the sword in his butt not an artificial one.  _[NO! The thing is ejaculating! Captain!]_

"Captain... cap... tin..." Hawk mumbled through the kiss.

Joey pulled back. "Do we have a problem?"

"the... the.. thing... it's coming in me."

"That's what penis' do," Joey laughed, wiping the sweat out of Feldman's eye.

"But... but I'd rather have you in me than that...."

"You mean you want to switch? You'd rather suck off a plastic penis than the sword?" LaFiamma questioned raising his eyebrows.

"No, no. I don't want to suck off a plastic penis... I want to suck off the sword."

"Well, Feldman... it can only be one way or the other. You sit on it and suck me off. Or you kneel in front and suck it off while I fuck you. Which is it? You've waited how long to have the sword down your throat? You're going to pass that up for a plastic penis?"

"But what's it putting into me... I could feel a liquid being deposited." Hawk asked frantically.

"I'm being deposited in you. Fresh semen in a sack put there just for you is being hurled into your ass. Don't you want it?" Joey said innocently. "Why did you come back if you didn't want me?"

LaFiamma backed off the chair and stood looking at this Marine, remembering the day the man came to him asking to be his lover. Joey was at first disturbed when Hawk told him how he liked to get off. But the mood Joe was in that day just fit into the abuse that Hawk wanted. Once they had started, Joe found it hard to break it off. He liked having the power over the man, but didn't approve of the man's method. LaFiamma would never admit to Feldman that he was actually glad when he found him in bed with another man. Yet here they were again. Though this time is was on LaFiamma's turf, not Hawk's.

"You ignored my invitation to come back to the fold... and now you are refusing me! Just what is your game, Feldman? What?" Joey demanded, working hard to keep a smile from spreading across his face.

"No, sir... I didn't ignore it. I didn't know it was for me. I didn't! Thought you were still mad at me... didn't think you wanted me. I want you, sir, I want you bad. Please don't take it away from me, please." Feldman implored, tears streaming down his face.

"You lose, Feldman," Joey said curtly looking around for the gold spittoon. Seeing it under the chair by the door he walked over to get it, listening to Feldman's screams as he walked. Bending at the waist to pick it up, he gave his lover a good look at his backside. Straightening he worked his cock with his hand bringing it to a head, then he turned and walked back his lover, a prisoner in the wall itself.

Squatting in front of his slave, Joey jacked off into the spittoon. No amount of cries or pleas made him stop. Shaking off the last drop, he bent forward and opened a small drawer under the chair. Retrieving a small spoon, the Major began to spoon feed his lover who greedily sopped up every drop.

"Sleep now... rest...." Joey said tenderly, stroking Feldman's neck. "I'll be back in a bit to release you."

Joey waited until he was sure Hawk was asleep before he walked back to the chair by the door and got dressed. When he was dressed he returned to the man and began to unbind his arms and legs. Catching him as he fell forward, Joe slung the sleeping, exhausted man over his shoulder and carried him to the bed, easing him onto it. Moving to the end of the bed, LaFiamma reached down to the floor and grabbed something that looked like a brass rail. With one heave he pulled it up and locked it in place. Following the leather straps that dangling from each end of the rail, Joe found the leather thong like shoes that would strap Hawk's feet firmly in place. Smiling he stepped back and looked at his trapped, naked lover asleep on a lambskin coverlet. The tanned body was a sharp contrast to the white lambskin.

Just as Joe was about to touch the sensor to open the door the radio on the chair crackled his name. The sound of the radio broke through the deep sleep of the transplanted Marine on the bed.

"LaFiamma. Yeah... No I'm just leaving. No, Hawk is indisposed at the moment. Yeah... what does Lundy want? Hold the call... I'll come in there and take it."

"May... jor?" Hawk muttered sleepily, "Was I good today?"

"You were very good today, Hawkman." LaFiamma replied making no move for the bed.

"Are... are you going to keep me? Will I be able to be in the harem?" Hawk asked cautiously trying to turn to face his lover, his master. Staring down at his feet he discovered why he couldn't turn. "You... you keeping me for later?"

"I'm keeping you for later. Then I'll be back to fuck your ass, Feldman. Fuck it slow... slower than slow. Until your cock is so big, you're begging to suck it off while I fuck you. And when it's in your mouth, Feldman, my cock will be coming hard and fast. Think about that--while you sleep... your Captain... fucking you hard and fast... skin slapping against skin... as you swallow your own cum. Think about it Feldman. Sweats meshing together. I'm going to bite your shoulder with an imprint that is going to last for weeks... every time you touch it... you'll feel the sword reaming through you."

LaFiamma stared at the man on the bed for a minute or two before telling him of the love he felt for the man, then he touched the sensor, the door opened and he was gone.

Hawk lay on the bed staring at the ceiling. Sleep? How the hell was he suppose to sleep with a hard-on that was already rising on his belly, just thinking about his lover's future penetration? His ass ached for the sword. God, he didn't know how much he missed being with the man until now.

"He loves me. He really loves me!" Feldman shouted at the top of his lungs. "He has a room just for me... just for me... for us... for us!"

Joey caught Gerald outside between the barn and the apartment. "Hawk's back in the fold, but he's secured and can't be moved. He needs a bedpan and a urinal. They probably didn't feed him during that flight either... fruit, some energy bars and a bottle of water." Joey said matter-of-factly, as if it was an order he gave everyday.

"I'll take care of it myself. Lundy's getting antsy on the phone."

"Gerald... if this harem.... These lovers.... Man, don't let me get like Smith, okay." Joey reiterated to his friend, distress in his voice.

"I don't think you have to worry about that. I just talked to Warsaw's wife. He's the one who talked her into coming down here. You're respected, Major. A lot! Granted you probably have dozen or more Marines around the world that would love to be in Shadow's or Hawk's or Hummer's shoes right now, but they respected you first, and fell in love with you second. Now get to that phone before that cowboy crawls through it." Gerald said, nodding toward their headquarters.

"Levon why the hell do I have to come down now... I'm still on medical leave as far the police department is concerned. Doc Baker told them I couldn't return to work for two more weeks. Okay, partner... but I'm coming down dressed like I am. How? Black boots, black jeans, black muscle shirt, guns!" LaFiamma heard his partner sigh, then added, "you'll be able to take them off later." Joey laughed as he hung up the phone. Turning to Shadow and Hummer, he said... "Lundy said that if I walk into Reisner dressed like this I'd better have a Marine guard. So one of you changes into Charlies... the other stay as you are. I'll get my wallet and be right with you."

Joey stood in his dressing room next to Hawk's inner sanction. Slowly he slid a panel to reveal a small eight inch by ten inch one-way glass. Joe watched Gerald enter the room with a large basket; saw Hawk's embarrassment at seeing a man other than his lover. Glancing at his watch Joe knew he didn't have time to watch, he closed the peephole, retrieved his wallet and his badge from his other pants and met his Marine guard in the driveway.

[][][][][][][][]

"Now listen you up you assholes." LaFiamma said as they parked in a No Parking Zone in front of Reisner. "Everything you say and do from this point on reflects not only on the Corps but on me as a police officer." Joe reached down between the seats of the van for a placard and placed the sign, 'Official Police Business' in the windshield.

"That mean we can't touch your buns in the elevator," Shadow asked jokingly.

Joe gave Sam Jones a stern look. "You do, you'll be strung upside down, stark naked in the trees, like Hawk told those MPs he would be for being AWOL."

LaFiamma's look chilled Shadow. "Yes sir, back to business as usual. Shucks I knew it was too good to last."

"You look sharp Hummer," Joey replied as he reached for the door handle. "Set the alarm system on max."

"Max?" Hummer questioned as he eased out of the driver's seat. "If someone leans toward a window the magnetic field will pull his badge or even his gun to the van."

"Precisely! I've had nothing but flack from these cops ever since I was sent down here. Let them find out about a side of me they don't know, and will wish they didn't know." Joey replied a half smile on his face.

Three patrolmen walked toward the Marines as they disembarked from the van. "Hey you can't park there!" A short, round around the middle officer called.

"Police business?" One of the others began laughingly poking the other two.

The third officer recognized LaFiamma. "Hey, LaFiamma, don't you know its regulation to wear a jacket over them guns? "

"Since I'm still on medical leave from the department, Donut Head, I don't think that will be a problem," LaFiamma remarked not looking at the man. "Don't lean too close, this baby has a mind of her own."

The three Marines were just about to enter Reinser's double doors when they heard a scream behind them.

"Let him loose, Hummer, then reset it," Joey said, stopping while Hummer turned, and pointed what looked like a pack of cigarettes at the van. LaFiamma watched as Hummer turned off the van's protective shield then reset it.

"Serves him right," LaFiamma mumbled under his breath as the overweight officer fell backwards.

Heads turned as the three entered the Police Department's main lobby and headed for the elevators. Several whispers of "LaFiamma is that you?" were heard as they walked.

Two women and a man in a brown suit got on the elevator with Joey and his two Marines. "Joey... you really married?" The blond woman asked, not believing this bachelor she had dated last year was no longer available.

"'Fraid so, Robin... old girlfriend I met in the Corps. When I saw her again - POW, it just hit me. You told me the right girl would come along, remember." LaFiamma remarked with a smile.

"Yeah... only I was hoping it would be me," she answered sadly, stepping to the front of the car as it came to a stop at the second floor.

As the elevator door closed and the car began to ascend to the third floor, LaFiamma turned to the man in the brown suit. "So, Scully... you still wearing the same suit I saw you in before this whole Marine thing started."

"LaFiamma, I want to talk to you about things you've done in the Marines. I think we could do some write ups - you know, heroic Marine now Houston cop."

"Forget it, man. I told you I can't tell you what I did in the Corps and the Corps wouldn't allow it to be printed. You'd have the Feds down your neck in a second, so just forget about it."

The car stopped at the third floor and Joey held the door back and allowed the older woman to get off first. April Manning looked at LaFiamma for several seconds before whispering, "You didn't have to get married, did you Joey?"

LaFiamma blinked.  _[God is that what people around here think? They're waiting for some dame I dated to tell me she's pregnant.]_  "No, ma'am," he answered quietly.

"Good," she replied touching him lightly on the arm. "It doesn't make a very good marriage if that is hanging over you."

Walking into the Human Relations office amid stares and gawks, LaFiamma asked a woman he knew that worked there what was so all fired important that he had to leave Marine training to come in.

She explained it was the end of the quarter, and she was sure he wanted to change his beneficiary of the department's life insurance to his wife.

"You called me in here for that!" Joey gruffed, the tone of his voice surprised everyone. "I changed it three months ago. I don't intend to change it again. The name that is on there stays on there."

"Yes, but, Lundy's name is on here. Surely you want your wife...."

"Read my lips, Lorraine," Joey stated firmly, blue eyes boring holes into the head of the dishwater blonde behind the counter. "The name that is on there stays on there. I'm the only family Lundy has left. That measly policy is the only thing I can leave him. His name stays on it - period - end of discussion." His jaw tight LaFiamma turned on his heel, nodded to his two Marines and they walked from the office into the hall right into the face of Joanne Beaumont.

"Joanne." Joey said quietly.

"You look pretty spry for someone who is on medical leave," the brunette shot back. Joey swallowed, she was the last person he wanted to meet today.

"Don't let his attitude fool you, ma'am. He's hurting bad." Hummer offered.

Joey turned his head and glared at Jake, who grinned back at him saying, "You know you do, Sir. Doctor Baker won't be none to happy with you if he walked in here right now."

"Joe!" Estaban Guiterrez called from the elevator, "someone named Gerald has forwarded a call from Washington here. Says you better take it - line two - down on your desk."

Joanne, Hummer, Shadow and LaFiamma walked down the hall to the elevator the Hispanic officer was holding open. The ride down to the second floor was done in silence.

As they stepped off the elevator, Estaban said, "Damn if you don't look sharp, Joey," his eyes ablaze with envy for Lundy and anyone else who was getting a taste of this man.

Walking into the Major Crimes Squad room caused a stir that Joe wasn't quite prepared for. Everyone present, including Annie, burst into spontaneous applause. It took some doing for the two Marines to keep the group from slapping him on the back and shaking his arm off.

Joey reached for his telephone, and pushed the blinking light at the base. "LaFiamma."

The Italian moaned more out of disgust for what General Callahan was telling him than out of pain, yet the gasp brought Hummer immediately to his side. He did not argue with his Marine when he insisted that he sit in the swivel chair that Shadow was holding.

Joanne watched her detective's face, he was indeed in pain when he sat. She wondered if he would be ready to work in two weeks.

Covering the phone with one hand, Joey whispered hoarsely, "Hummer, check the van."

"Yes SIR!" Jake Hummerstein replied giving his Major a half salute, he clicked his heel, turned and disappeared out the door.

Shadow, dressed in a Marine utility uniform which looks much like battle fatigues, stood at parade rest a half step back from where LaFiamma sat taking notes. Sam wondered how many bodies and bones were going to be discovered in Smith's pool. They could be piled in layers, all the years Smith was in that house.

The Italian finally finished his call and sat with his head in his hands. He felt like he was on a roller coaster, like the summer of his twelfth birthday, when his family gave him one surprise after another.

"Major!" Shadow said softly, concerned that Joe hadn't said a word in several minutes, and neither had anyone else in the room. "Sir ... Joe."

Joey looked up into Sam's concerned eyes, suddenly conscious of where he was. Joanne and others watched as Joey put out his hand and the attending Marine assisted him to his feet. "The bones are so thick, Shadow, ... they can't even tell where the bottom of the pool is."

Still holding onto Sam Jones arm, Joe reached back for the phone and placed a call to Gerald. As Joanne Beaumont listen to the one-sided conversation, she knew she had made the right choice in insisting that he be placed in charge of the Southwest Branch. Now all she had to do was fight the Marine Corps to get him back.

"Gerald, its LaFiamma." Joey said evenly into the phone as Hummer reappeared behind him. "It's definite. Smith's pool in D.C. is full of piranhas. Bones are so thick they can't even tell where the bottom is. Right now the cops and the Corps are trying to find a way to drain the thing and capture the fish at the same time. When we get back you and Hummer need to sit down and make a list of every single person you heard Smith threaten - real or imagined. Need to go through those journals again. There were some names checked off on some pages - could be related to this. And I need to make a list of every man that he transferred out of my outfit. General Callahan wants names as soon as we can get them together. And we need to go through those videos in that trunk, if Smith was loony enough to put that house together as he did, he was mad enough to video tape pushing people to their death."

Joey listened as Gerry told him about stopping by the new house and picking up a letter and small package that was left at the back door. Both were marked 'Urgent - Attention Major Joseph LaFiamma.'

"Open them... tell me what it says. No, go ahead, unless you think it needs to be scanned first." Joey wondered who would leave packages at the house, only a few people knew he was moved into it.

Joey stood quietly looking around the squad room, realizing he was still the center of attention. "Don't you guys have anything better to do? Got some stacked up files here," Joey barked pointing to a pile of manila folders on Lundy's desk. That remark broke the tension in the room and officers went back to work, everyone except Estaban whose eyes were glued to the man in black.

"The paper says WHAT!" LaFiamma gasped staggering backwards. "What kind of invitation?" Joe's mouth opened and closed, the telephone receiver dropped from his hand. Hummer caught it as it bounced off the edge of the desk. Jake picked it up and asked Gerald what was going on.

As LaFiamma turned, Sam Jones watched his CO's blue eyes turn jet black. He'd only seen that once before, and that was when Joe discovered Feldman in someone else's bed. "If this is true - that bitch is dead." Joe growled through clenched jaws. Sidestepping his Marines, Joey sprinted for the bathroom.

Sam looked around for help and his eyes caught Estaban's look. "Get Lundy here ASAP! What's down the hall? Where would he go?"

"The bathroom. On the left." Sergeant Guiterrez replied as he walked to the phone to call dispatch to track Lundy down.

Sam touched Jake's shoulder and the Marine gave a slight nod but continued to write notes on the pad LaFiamma had been writing on earlier. Sam jogged out of the Squad Room and down the hall. Slowly pushing open the bathroom door, he saw LaFiamma standing in front of the urinals, both hands on the wall, swearing in Italian and a few other languages. Without turning around, LaFiamma told him to guard the door and not let anyone in.

Lundy drove into the police garage and parked the Jimmy. As he eased his tired frame out of the driver's seat his police radio crackled with his call letters. Taking the stairs two at a time, he made it from the garage parking area to the second floor in record time. Estaban met him as he emerged into the hall briefly telling him what had already gone down.

"Oh god, how much more can this man take?" The blond questioned briskly walking to the Major Crimes Unit. "Hummer! What's going on? What's this thing about Lucia?"

Jake rose from Joe's swivel chair gathering all the notes he and Joe had written. "Levon," Hummer called quietly, motioning the cowboy to stay in the hall, he quickly joined the Texan and Hispanic officer. "Where's the Major? We have to get this marriage annulled fast. Gerald's calling Father Muellen now."

"Annulled?" Levon gasped, "what the hell was Joe sent?"

"Hey, Lundy! Tell your partner to stop monopolizing the john will you?" Two officers in blue shouted from down the hall.

"That where he is?" Lundy asked, already knowing the answer, he began walking in that direction. When he saw Shadow standing guard in from of the door, he grinned.  _[I wonder if these cops will ever get use to seeing these two Marines with Joe. I wonder if I will.]_

"LaFiamma?" The blond called walking quietly into the Men's Room. "Joe?"

LaFiamma turned fast and met his approaching partner. "She's a whore, Levon. A worse whore than I ever thought of being. She's sterile too - had a hysterectomy."

"WHAT? But she talked about wanting... having babies?"

"Had a surgery four years ago... after her fourth or fifth abortion. Someone left a package at the house today. Gerald found it when he went to check on the place. It includes an invitation to an orgy that she does every other Saturday night... in San Antonio. An invitation for me to come included a copy of verification of her surgery so I wouldn't have to worry about getting her pregnant - and a video of what goes down. Gerald only watched part of it. Grounds for annulment I know... but man that takes years in the Catholic Church."

"I --- I want you to call Aunt Teresa and tell her." Joey replied his voice faltering.

"Me? Call Mrs. Mafia!" Levon gasped.

"You can use Tom's office... if I do it... god, I'll swear words she doesn't like to hear."

"Joe?"

"Please Levon. I don't ask much of you... this you have to do for me. And when this is over, don't you ever tell me again I need to marry someone - unless it's you."

"You'd marry me?"

"In a minute."

[][][][][][][][][]

Levon poured over the notes Hummer had taken. Handing them back to Jake, he and Joe walked into the police psychiatrist's office as the two Marines went into parade rest in front of the door.

Lundy watched as his partner dialed a number. Handing the receiver to the blond, the Italian said, "she has call forwarding so where ever she is this will reach her."

Levon was surprised when someone on the other end answered, "Bishop Julian's office." Lundy politely asked for Teresa LaFiamma saying it was urgent regarding her nephew Joseph.

Teresa had taken the liberty to visit the Bishop's office in the hopes that he could work into his schedule the formalization of Joey & Lucia's vows that Teresa and Amy English were putting together. Joey had grown up in Father Julian's church, and had been baptized by him. Teresa felt it was only fitting that Julian perform the vows too.

It took Levon a few minutes to convince Joey's aunt that Joe wasn't physically hurt. "No, ma'am. It is his heart that is hurt. He has just been delivered some horrible news about Lucia. Did you know his eyes turn black when ... Yes, ma'am, he's that mad."

"I - I guess there is no way to ... " covering the mouthpiece with his hand, for a second, Lundy whispered to Joe, "it sounds like they are putting this on speaker."

"Just tell her!" Joey growled back softly, standing and beginning to pace.

"Joe received an invitation from someone in San Antonio today. Evidently sent by someone who doesn't know he and Lucia are married. It is an invitation to attend an orgy that Lucia holds every other Saturday. Men fly in from all over the world to be chosen to spend time with her. She... takes... two men at a time. It included a verification certificate of surgery for a hysterectomy, so he, Joe, didn't have to worry about getting her pregnant. It even included a video of the one that was held two weeks ago. He's.... Yes, ma'am I know he loved her very much... but now... we're all afraid he's going to go down there and kill her. He's said as much. He knows the Catholic Church hardly ever gives annulments, but he wanted you to know that he's applying for one. What? Sure I can hold on."

Lundy put his hand over the receiver again and looked at his partner. Joe was seething, anger reeked from every pore.

"Who's this Bishop Julian?" The cowboy asked quietly.

"I was raised in his church. Father Julian baptized me. Buried my parents." A sudden laugh bellowed out of the Italian, breaking the tension that reeked his body. Looking into his partner's surprised face, Joe whispered, "Father Julian is the one who awaken my bi-sexual side."

"What? What? What - no I understand - yes he is here, I can get him for you." Levon laid the phone on Tom's desk and pushed the Hold button. "It's the Bishop. He wants to talk to you. And guess what - Mrs. English is with them."

Joey walked to the desk, put on his pout, pushed the Hold button and said gruffly, "LaFiamma." His eyes widened as the man he had been an Altar boy for began to explain what had just been agreed to.

"If the annulment is coming by special courier. I would like it delivered to me, so I can hand deliver it to her. No, sir. I promise I won't do anything violent. Yes, Sir. I know I'm prone to that. I will take other Marines with me who will make sure that I don't." <See Sequel, "Lucia's Walking Papers"

Levon watched the conversation with interest. From what he was hearing Joe's annulment that should have taken two years or more was already dispensed. The blond threw up his hands when his partner began speaking in Italian but stopped short and stared at his lover when he heard his name mentioned.

With a simple, "Thank you Father," LaFiamma hung up the phone. He didn't move for several minutes, then he turned and embraced his surprised partner, hugging the blond tight. "Did I ever tell you I love you?" LaFiamma whispered, lightly kissing the man on the cheek.

"What's happening? Who was there? How come you're free already?" Levon questioned, relishing the hug, not wanting it to end.

"I don't suppose Tom would like it if we made love on his couch, would he?" Joey remarked, releasing his lover. He loved keeping Lundy in suspense.

"What's happening? I'm hugging you... loving you. Who was there? Aunt Teresa, AND Admiral and Mrs. English! A cousin, who is a priest -- and a Marine Chaplain. You were right, it was on a speakerphone. How come I'm free already? While usually all the evidence is gathered, than a committee meets together and discusses it and makes a recommendation. The Bishop has the ultimate say of yes or no. So he made the decision and his secretary is drawing up the papers. He is also faxing a copy of the annulment papers to Father Muellen. Admiral English is putting forth his own investigation of the goings on at this little hospital attached to the base. And my cousin the priest is going to deliver the papers to me in the morning, and together with some Marines that she doesn't know, we are going to raid her party tomorrow night. The Bishop told me to stay with you - and not get attached to any more women."

"With those people present, he didn't either! Did he?"

A sharp knock on the door surprised them. Hummer opened it a crack and said there was a man out here who wanted his office back.

"I need to talk with Joanne, then you're leaving the Jimmy here, and coming home with us in the van. According to Smith's timeline, you should already be dead and I should already have had a breakdown. I don't want you wandering onto the property and being captured by any unfriendlies out there."

Walking out of the office shoulder to shoulder back to the squad room, Levon asked, "When do you think the unfriendlies will arrive?"

"They already have - Hawk saw a couple in the woods this morning. Hawk! Oh shit." Joey ran to his phone and dialed the complex before he could say a word, Gerald informed him that more men in turbans had been seen and he took the liberty of releasing Hawk.

"Hummer!" The word was short and sharp and spoken before the receiver was laid to rest.

"Sir!"

"The enemy has arrived. Call in and see how soon that search and destroy team can be here. Lundy's going with us." Joey looked up to see several other detectives, and Joanne staring at him.

LaFiamma casually looked around the room, into the face of every one there. "That house that General Smith built for me is full of booby traps. By this date, he had planned to have already killed Lundy. A killing that I would have been forced to witness. With the death of my partner on my mind he planned to drive me insane with grief, and or to use the house and Lebanese soldiers to force me into thinking I was still held hostage but in a different place. I'd like the word passed for radio silence for both of us. I'd like Dispatch to be informed that nobody knows where we are... we're missing and you've about given up."

Joe watched the reaction of his words before continuing. "I've just been informed that Lebanese nationals are roaming Smith's property. I can bet they are here illegally. I would venture to say the man who tortured me is among them. I'm a cop, and I always plan to be a cop - but right now, I'm a Marine, you following these orders will keep this detective duo alive."

"You heard the man," Lieutenant Joanne Beaumont barked, "Get to it."

No words were spoken between Beaumont and LaFiamma, he merely nodded and followed her into her office.

"Joe," the brunette began as she moved around her desk.

Quietly cutting her off, LaFiamma said, "Joanne I need three more weeks plus the two weeks of medical leave I'm now on. I need to wrap up these people roaming the woods that don't belong there - get a team trained to handle the house - work with the movie company that helped build the house, so I can get back to being a cop."

"Do you really want to be a cop?" She asked.

The question surprised him, yet it didn't. "Yeah. I like being a cop more than anything. Well, almost more than anything. I liked being a Marine. And if I hadn't been in the situation I was in with General Smith when I was in the Corps, I'd probably still be in the Corps. But you have to know - that even when I come back as a cop, those two Marines are going to be dogging my tail the whole time."

The Italian watched her eyebrows raise, neither acknowledged Lundy as he silently entered the office, closing the glass door behind him. "It's per orders from General Callahan, head of US Marine Corps Special Operations. It seems he and you are going to be fighting over me, though I already told him being a cop was my first priority. According to General Smith's will I have to spend at least two weeks a year at Quanto training base in Virginia. However, if Smith's house is used for training, I will no longer need to go to Quanto. But I would have to work out being a cop and a marine at the same time. I know you can't be a part time anything and that one may win out in the end. Right now I need to try to do both."

"I guess that is all we can do," she said, looking past Joe to Levon. "I can assign Lundy another partner until you get back, and..."

"Jo-anne!" Levon lamented giving Joe a sorrowful look.

"No, Lieutenant. Levon and I have already agreed that if we were ever split up as partners we'd quit the force." LaFiamma replied evenly.

The statement shocked her. "Why? What is wrong with having someone different at your side for a few weeks?"

"We know each other. Know how the other is going to react." Joey's blue eyes were on Joanne's face. She blinked, wondering what it was like to be dressed down by him, realizing suddenly that that was exactly what her Sergeant was doing. "And mainly -- because we are lovers."

She had been standing facing LaFiamma the whole time he was talking, but Joe's last sentence blew her away and she fell backwards into her desk chair.

"We've been lovers for about two years," Joey said, a smile crossing his face. "We have kept it out of the work place and have done everything we can to not let it be known that we are. Levon can't really be intimate with a woman, Joanne. He's faithful to Caroline and always will be, that's why he could never commit himself to Jamie. To him it was the same as committing adultery. He is far better with me than some of the other men in this building who have tried to corner him for their pleasures not his. I leave anything out Lundy?"

"Think you about said it all, partner." Levon remarked still standing with his back to the glassed door.

"Anything I need to know about, Joanne? Am I still being promoted, or have I lost that?" Joey asked stepping closer to Beaumont's desk.

Beaumont looked from one detective to the other. She knew Caroline would be the only woman in Levon's life, but a male lover was something she never expected, yet she wasn't surprised that the lover was Joe. Taking a deep breath, she ruffled through some papers on her desk and came up with several sheets that were clamped together.

"Well, Joey, here's the first bit of information you can start reading through while you're chasing bad guys through your woods. The Chief and even the City Council members thought your idea of 'Inspector' was good. Especially since we get so many European tourists. You are now Inspector LaFiamma, Head of Southwest Branch. In fact the Desk Sergeant should have your new ID by now, you can probably pick it up on your way out. We even received some free office space, which includes a parking lot, when someone in the neighborhood found out you spoke Polish. It's a real mixed ethnic neighborhood. This paper is a rundown of some of the problems they've had in the past and the area the branch covers. There is also a list of officers who are requesting transfer to your unit. It is up to you to decide who you want in or out." Looking beyond LaFiamma, Joanne added, "I guess that means I need to put Levon in for an immediate transfer."

"If you want me there - he's going to have to be there." Joey said simply, taking the papers from her.

[][][][][][][][]

As the Marine van approached the Smith complex driveway, Joe asked Sam to trade places with him and he joined Levon in the middle seat. The dark windows kept any outsiders from seeing inside. Joey told Hummer to park as close to the black door of the barn that he could, backing in if necessary, and not to open the window for anyone.

The four in the van saw three soldiers in desert garb scurry for the woods as the green van approached. Evidently the van was something they hadn't expected. Jake expertly maneuvered the van into a niche close to the door. All Joey had to do was open the sliding door of the van, reach over and open the black door. With the shade of the tree overhead LaFiamma doubted that the soldiers could see who was getting out. The Major was surprised to find R.G. waiting for them in the small dressing room. Joe was not happy to learn soldiers where in the barn. That meant other hands were programmed into the security pads.

"So how do we get to our living quarters or your apartment?" Shadow asked as the four of them filed into the small room.

"I put the van on max security, Major," Hummer said scurrying in last, letting Joe bolt the door behind him.

"You follow me, Sammy, down a secret passage way Gerald discovered in the kitchen just after you left. And, ah... Sir." R.G. began with a grin. "I found the codes for the security pads. The soldiers that are in the barn now won't be able to get back out, because I have voided all entries except ours. Let's see them go through that laser field, I've got the hallway up on one of the monitors in the booth. Come on, got hot coffee and fried chicken waiting in the kitchen."

"Fried chicken?" Lundy quizzed rubbing his stomach. "Missed lunch. Chicken sounds good."

"I'll show you on the way." R.G. continued, glad he had good information to share. "Smith must have figured he'd be here for months. He's got a commercial freezer full of food, and a pantry of dry food products all in airtight containers. Gerald didn't even know about the stockpile."

As they moved sideways through the passageway, Joe asked R.G. what else had happened after they left, besides the thing with Lucia.

"I started playing with the mosaic to see if it had any more secrets hidden in it... and boy does it. Found several small sliding panels with keys, code books, manuals on the house, pictures, and photos. You were a cute kid, Major." R.G. replied with a grin, halting the group. He placed his hand midway on the wall in front of them, and the wood turned, allowing them to pass through into a much large room.

"The bastard has pictures of me as a kid?" LaFiamma asked wondering when it would all stop.

Gerald appeared out of nowhere telling them the chicken was getting cold, and the S&D team was in the air and would check in again when they were an hour out for landing directions and deployment. Looking at LaFiamma as he walked into the kitchen, Gerald said he'd been taking pictures of the soldiers who were coming to the pool and looking in.

"Yeah, Major, I squirted them a couple of times by turning on the spray that is suppose to cool the water if it gets too hot," R.G. said laughingly. "You should have seen them jump backwards, they fell all over each other to get away from the edge. They definitely think it is filled with fish. The keys for the Interrogation Rooms were one of the things I found, I locked the second one that goes to the pool. How we going to get rid of the snake?"

"Well I'd like to see TrashMan fight that snake, but maybe it would be better to put his name on the door of Number One and let him think that Smith gave him his own room. I'd like to watch someone go through the house as Smith planned for me to go," LaFiamma remarked walking out of the food storage area into the kitchen, picking up a drumstick as he walked past the plates of food on the kitchen table.

"Why are the curtains closed?" Joe asked, holding the chicken between his teeth as he shucked off his holster and guns.

"Smith's timeline says that if things are going as planned, the curtains would be closed the day the enemy arrives." Gerald answered setting a glass of iced tea down on his desk.

"So the troops outside figure Lundy's dead, and I am close to a basket case. Good! Then they won't expect anything. Won't be prepared for anything. Mmmm... this is good chicken," Joey mumbled, "'bout as good as your thigh Lundy."

LaFiamma turned to look as his partner who was coming out of the kitchen carrying a plate piled high with fried chicken and potato salad. The detectives' eyes met and Joe watched a slow pink blush creep across the blonde's face. "God I love you Lundy. I love you so much. If Smith had succeeded in all this - life wouldn't be worth living without you. I probably would have found a way to join you in the pool just so our bones could be together there."

LaFiamma walked over to where Lundy was standing and kissed the man lightly on the cheek. "When this is over, partner, you and me are going into my new house, locking the door and aren't going to surface for a week."

Looking down at the food on Levon's plate, Joe asked, "How can you eat so much and still stay skinny?"

"It's that bedroom exercise," Lundy croaked, his body hungery for the continued touch of his lover.

"Okay..." Joe said sharply turning his attention to Hawk, Hummer and Shadow. "Today ends the fun and games we've all been playing here. Now it is back to Marine business. Our job is to detain the enemy and neutralize him. Gerry put the sign on the door for TrashMan. If we can isolate him the others may be easier to capture."

"Joe, according to the timeline, there should be anywhere from five to ten soldiers. We know there are three in the barn, that leaves TrashMan and who knows how many others. Maybe we could... " R.G. said watching his friend come alive with the anticipation of battle.

"Maybe we could just do a bit of torture ourselves. You guys got your gear here - in this place?" Joey asked pointing a finger to the floor. "Black pajamas, makeup?"

"Yeah... in the second bedroom there is all kinds of stuff." Hummer answered.

"Okay - suit up. Shad, you're going to blend into the woods. See what you can find out. Hawk, I want you to draw the ones in the barn into your room, one at a time. Put on the green camouflage and lean against the wall near the windows, you'll blend right in. Case you didn't notice that whole corner is painted like shrubbery. And don't give me that look, no one else will be in there except you... and me. Once you get them entrapped come and get me. Maybe we can neutralize the whole bunch before touchdown of the S&D group."

[][][][][][][]

Shadow lay in the bushes behind the barn. It had been four months since he'd been on a mission and it felt good to be out on one even if it was in his own backyard. He intently watched two men arguing half in English, half in Lebanese. He picked up Smith's name, LaFiamma's name and the word codes. Then almost next to him a third man burst through the trees waving a small white piece of paper.

Shadow inched his way closer and listened in on the conversation which had suddenly switched to all English.

"What the hell is this? My name taped on one of the cell blocks! Has this man gone mad?" The man that seemed to be in charge shouted. "Where are the others? Why aren't they here?"

"The codes, Colonel. They can't get out of the barn." The man who brought the paper answered.

"They got in! They should be able to get out!" The Colonel yelled throwing his hands into the air.

"They can't! I tried... I watched them try. It says, 'Access Denied' every time. Smith must have changed it after he saw them go in."

"Someone else is here. He's brought someone else here. Smith was in that van that came. I saw him get out. No, someone else is doing this for him. Come on - pack up everything. We'll leave it by the pool then get the others out. My hand print will work. He wouldn't dare delete it. He knows if he does he'll die in that little playroom of his."

Shadow watched as they busied themselves in taking down a tent and packed what they had into duffel bags. He watched and listened. Listened to the birds in the trees, the creak of the branches in the wind, the smell of the woods, pine needles and the freshness of the air. This was definitely better than wallowing through the swamps of South America or the deserts of the Middle East.

Sam was alerted by a noise - a scream from behind him. Still he was unmoved, frozen in his crouch in the bushes. He heard one of the soldiers shout a name and point in the direction of the barn. The men dropped what they were doing and raced in that direction. Slowly, stiffly Sam Jones stood, eyes darting in every direction. When he felt it was safe, he moved noiselessly through the forest to the edge of the woods. He could hear heated, hostile, loud voices coming from beyond the open door leading into the barn. Ahead of him was the first interrogation room, the one that had a secret door that lead to the control room. He hoped someone was there and would answer his knock

He raised his hand to knock and the door opened. Breathless he stared into the face of his Major, the man he loved more than life itself. LaFiamma instructed him to leave the interrogation door open. Then grabbed Sam's arm and pulled him into the small passageway. Joey smiled at Shadow. One hand reached up and wiped off the black makeup from around Sam's mouth. Shadow shivered as LaFiamma's mouth closed over his. Their tongues battled for control. Sam Jones wanted to block out the whole world, and then the kiss ended. "We'll finish later," Joey whispered motioning to Shadow to walk ahead of him, within seconds they were in the control room and then in the living room.

Excitedly, Sam told what he had heard. "Your man's a Colonel now, Sir. There are six of them. The Colonel swore he saw Smith get out of the van when it came."

"Maybe it was you dressed in black," Lundy offered, downing the last of his potato salad.

"That playroom - the one that Hawk likes. It was built for Smith all right, but your Colonel was going to be the Master. He said and I quote, 'My hand print will work. He wouldn't dare delete it. He knows if he does he'll die in that little playroom of his.'"

"Good work Sam," Joey said embracing the man, kissing him again lightly on the lips, "We'll get you a reward later," LaFiamma whispered huskily.

"For your rewards, Sir, I'll do just about anything." Shadow gasped as hot flashes of passion raced over his skin.

"Careful what you agree to Samuel Jones. I might take you up on it," Joe said with a grin.

Joey turned and saw the look on his partner's face. What was it - desire - anger - lust? "You okay partner?"

"Damn, LaFiamma that gesture is making me hard as a rock."

"Guess we'll know how to make you hard now - when you want to and can't get it up, huh?"

R.G. rushed out of the control room. "Joey! Your man is entering the ROOM!"

"Lock the door behind him! Open the other one! The Colonel is about to meet himself! Any word from Hawk? What's the status with the ones in the barn?" LaFiamma questioned following R.G. back into the control room.

"Hawk must have two in the room because only one is in the hall now, arguing with two on the outside of the laser field."

"Let the two outside come in. From the burn on one of their pants looks like they already tried to get through the field. Drop the field. Soon as the two are through put it up." Joey ordered. A grin spread across the Italian's face as one soldier bolding began walking forward then ran to embrace his comrade, soon joined by the third.

"Visualize the field." LaFiamma ordered, he and R.G. watched as the elation of being reunited was short lived. The three Lebanese soldiers stood frozen staring at the flickering jagged lights bouncing from wall to wall.

"Hummer. Shadow." LaFiamma called, returning to the living room. "You ready for capture? Take them to the steps of the pool - but not in the water. When you're out of the barn, I'll see how Hawk's doing. You doing okay partner? Or do you need relief?" Joey said seeing the blush of arousal on the detective's face.

LaFiamma edged up to Lundy, his hands roaming over the tight jeans. "Good grief Levon, you ARE hard as a rock."

The Texan's face turned beet red as Joe's fingers began to unzip his jeans right in the middle of the room in front of Gerald, Hummer and Shadow. Deftly the Italian eased the bulging penis out of his partner's pants. Dropping to his knees in front of his lover, Joey heard a soft moan and knew it didn't come from Levon.

Looking past his partner, Major LaFiamma saw his two Marines, their tongues hanging almost to the floor. "Don't you men have something to do? Do it!"

LaFiamma sprang to his feet, took his partner by the hand and lead him into R.G.'s bedroom. Once inside, Joey got no protests as he quickly undressed his partner. Animalistic sounds soon echoed around the room as Joe kneeling next to him on the bed, swallowed more and more of the hard Texas cock. Minutes after eruption, the Italian backed off the bed, reached down to the foot of the bed and covered his lover with a blanket.

"Joe --- do you gotta go?" Levon rasped the passion of the moment still ripe.

"Yes, Levon, I gotta go. Got to finish this so we can get back to living."

"Joey? Major! Where are you? Your TrashMan's going bonkers in the room. His own voice is shouting at him. He doesn't look too good. I think I found a way to turn off the video, if you want to talk to him," R.G. said leaning out of the control booth.

LaFiamma opened the bedroom and stepped out, smiling he looked at R.G. and blew him a kiss. "Let's put this bastard through the paces. Maybe we can find out whether this house is worth using or should just be demolished.'

Joey eased himself into one of the swivel chairs at the console. Reaching forward he pushed 'Rm 1' then 'Speaker.'

"You can stop shouting for Smith. He isn't here." Joey said loudly into the microphone. "That's right it's LaFiamma. Smith was shot to death when he tried to escape his court martial."

Joey listened to the shouts of demands, then just started laughing. He turned on the mike and just laughed. "Want to tell me what's in the house? Who put the fish in the pool? What about the snake in the room next door? He must be pretty hungry by now. You want to go down the slide? You'd hit the water so fast you wouldn't feel a thing. Or you want to take your chances in there?

LaFiamma turned off the speaker as a barrage of cuss words in English and Lebanese began. Suddenly the floor opened up and the man was gone. Joey dropped the mike in surprise, he looked over at R.G. and back to the monitor. The room was empty. Empty!

"Joe - look the snake in room three is gone. Where'd he go? How'd he get out?" R.G. exclaimed.

"R.G., tell Hummer and Shadow to bring their prisoners to the back of the complex. Put one into Room 1, one in Room 3, and cuff the other to the trees. We're going to use these guys as guinea pigs. If anyone dies here, I don't want it to be us. I'm going to check on Hawk see who he has."

LaFiamma quickly walked into the kitchen, opened the panel next to the pantry and slipped into the hidden passageway. Within seconds he was in the small dressingroom next to the playroom. Slowly he opened the peephole to see what was happening in the other room. Much to his dismay only one of the soldiers was immobilized, the one was in a standoff with Hawk. Closing the peephole, Joe spun around fast glancing around the room for his hatbox. Kicking off his shoes as he lifted the cover off he reached in and took out a well worn bullwhip with a turquoise laced handle.

Three seconds later he was inside the playroom listening to the soldier tell Hawk he was no match for him.

"You're in a war, Feldman!" LaFiamma shouted, "You never give the enemy the advantage!

The Lebanese soldier's head jerked up at the sound of the voice behind him. Before he could turn the whip whistled out curling around his ankle. One jerk and the soldier slid across to wood floor to LaFiamma's feet.

"Well, well... if it isn't the man who use to pee on me," Joe remarked tightly, staring down into the startled face of one of his tormentors.

"Y-y-y- ou-r... dead. You're supposed to be dead. Dead." The man stammered not believing his eyes.

Joey gave the whip a shake and the thin end of the bullwhip released the hold on the ankle. "Do I look dead?" He asked with a sneer.

Looking up at his Marine lover as he placed the heel of his left foot in the soldier's groin, Joey remarked curtly, "What the hell were you thinking of Feldman? I should give you to him."

Hawk's face paled. He swallowed hard as his lover's eyes bore into him. Suddenly he dropped to the floor in a tight couched position, knees under him, arms around his knees, head on the floor.

"So MISTER Man who Pees - What shall I do with you? Throw you to the fish and watch you be devoured in seconds? Push you through the laser field and watch you burn? Put you into Smith's house or one of the interrogation rooms and see if you come out alive? You especially should get something more than your men, don't you think?"

"You need me!" The Lebanese soldier shouted trying to squirm out from under Joe's foot but falling back to the floor when Joe's heel pressed hard into his balls.

"I know things about this house! Know about the snakes! How to feed them... know where they hide!"

"Really? When the floor opens up under someone... do they fall into their nests? Do they hide under the floor? Your Colonel stepped into a room and the floor opened up under him - is he dead now? Too bad, I really had plans for him." Joe shot back sarcastically. " Guess you're the only one here who will taste my vengeance... only when I put YOU into a body bag, nobody will be able to revive you."

"No, no, not the Colonel!" Cried the soldier hanging from the ceiling his hands over his head, his toes barely touching the floor. "Tish tell him... tell him before all of us get killed."

LaFiamma looked down at his captive, one of the tormentors who beat him without mercy.

Hawk sensed his Major's anger, knew part of it was his failure to detain the man. "Major?" Feldman said quietly lifting his head.

LaFiamma's head jerked, his face contorted with anger the likes of which Hawk had never seen before. "AND YOU! YOU! FELDMAN GET IN THAT CORNER AND GET UNDRESSED!" Joey shouted at the top of his lungs, pointing to the far corner of the room that appeared to have a tree growing through the roof. "DOWN TO THE BARE SKIN - RAW SKIN - NOTHING ELSE! NOW! DO IT NOW!"

"So you know about this place, do you, Pee Man?" Joey quizzed in a quiet even tone, checking his pockets for the remote.

"Remote?"

Stepping out of the shadows of the tree, stark naked, Hawk tossed the remote for the room to his lover. His Major's cold voice stopped him short.

"IS THAT HOW YOU WALK IN THIS ROOM? NO IT IS NOT, IS IT? LESS YOU WANT MORE PUNISHMENT THAN YOU'RE ALREADY GOING TO GET - YOU BEST WALK THE CORRECT WAY." LaFiamma ordered sharply eyeing Feldman.

"Yes sir," came the meek obedient answer, as Hawk got down on his hands and feet, his buttocks in the air and began walking to the corner seat. The seat he knew would bring him the worse punishment.

Joe watched his lover walk, his own groin growing hot at the sight of Feldman's ass waving back and forth as he waddled to the corner. Joey decided his own pleasure was more important at the moment than this asshole in front of him. Using his foot as a prod, LaFiamma positioned the man on a purple X. One click of the remote and Pee Man was neatly wrapped in a mesh bag, suspended a few feet below the ceiling.

Joe turned to Hawk just in time to keep him from standing. "Kneel on the floor. Hands where your feet go! Mouth where you ass goes." LaFiamma knew what he wanted to do to Hawk but he just didn't have the time. Foremost in his mind was that these two soldiers might well have the answers they needed to Smith's house.

"You comfortable there?" Joe asked the soldier who was hanging by his wrists.

The soldier gulped, and said, "Yes sir, I'm - I'm fine."

The Italian smiled as he reached up and unbuckled the man's belt buckle, loosen his pants and stripped him of his pants and under shorts. Tossing the clothing to one side, he then hit the green button and watched the soldier fall to the floor. Struggling to get to his feet, Joe punched the green button again, and the man hung upside down. When he stopped swinging, Joe relieved him of the rest of his clothes.

Unzipping his black jeans, LaFiamma sighed as his hardened cock was freed from its tight enclosure. Taking his cock in one hand he drew it across the man's forehead, whispering, "If my man can't satisfy me - I'll be back."

His head resting on the seat of the chair, his mouth suckling the plastic pliable penis, Hawk watched his lover amble slowly toward him. He lifted his ass as an invitation to the hard-on that he knew his lover had.

LaFiamma grinned, fingers spread Hawk's butt checks and he pushed in fast with no lube. Humping over his lover, Joey pounded hard and fast, flesh slapping against flesh echoed around the room. Leaning across Hawk's back, Joe whispered, "when I stand, you stand and walk to the man you captured. Use his mouth, his body or any part of him you need to get yourself off. Then get dressed, walk back to him, release him and take him from the room. Get as much information out of him as you can... he knows more than he is telling. Much more."

"Aaahhhhhh... now that is a good fuck!" Major LaFiamma remarked loudly, withdrawing himself from Feldman's ass. Two steps back he leaned against the wall, shaking the last few drops onto the floor. By the time he put his spent penis back into his jeans, Feldman was hovering over his captive's chest forcing himself to come on an enemy that had injured his lover.

Joey walked to the corner where Hawk's clothes lay. Pushing them to one side with his foot, he grabbed the finger holds in the wall and pulled. "Wow..." LaFiamma exclaimed as a tri-fold door opened revealing all kinds of whips, chains, tethers, masks, chastity devices... toys and toys. "Well PEE Man you and your Colonel must have really thought about having fun in here. Guess I'll just try some of these out on you. See what kind of stimulus they bring out."

LaFiamma folded the doors open as far as they would go and as he did so, a soft light came on illuminating the display inside. Joey's eyes skimmed over the display finally stopping at a shelf that held two-inch boxes with plastic covers.  _[Damn, if they aren't little instant tattoos. Here's a hickey... teeth marks... a hickey. That is what my lovers are going to carry.]_

"Feldman?" Joey said quietly, picking up the small box, he took the lid off and dropped the thing into his hand. "This is perfect - absolutely perfect."

"Sir?" Hawk answered from behind him. His eyes went to the object in his lover's hand to Joe's face and back again. The Marine didn't understand the smile.

"You said you wanted a tattoo of our love?"

"Yes Sir."

"Get dressed - but no shirt. Take the rest of you clothes over to the bed and kneel on the floor, your body on the bed."

"Will it hurt?"

"Everything in life hurts, Hawk. But you'll be the only who has this... for a while."

"Maybe there's something else in there that the others could have," Feldman answered, reaching for this pants.

As his Marine lover dressed, walked to the bed, knelt and waited, Joey looked at the other tattoos on the shelf. He liked this one that looked like a hickey the best, but there was also one that looked like teeth marks, one that looked like wet skin. Keeping the hickey in his hand Joey pulled the doors until the light went off and joined his lover at the bed.

Straddling his lover's back Joey read the small print on the top of the container. It said to wet the area well with saliva before applying. Knowing Hawk may well get hard all over again, Joe bent low and began to suck and lick Feldman's left shoulder. Just as the man was beginning to enjoy it, the Italian planted the twelve-pronged object into the wet area. Underneath him his lover jerked, a guttural scream came out of Hawk's throat and then he began to cry.

"Easy, my love, easy," Joey whispered, "it will soon be over." LaFiamma lifted the outer edge of the object off, then proceeded with the second phase, tiny pinholes injecting red dye in an uneven pattern.

It took barely four minutes and when it was over, Joey pulled Feldman to his feet, hugging him, holding him close, kissing the tears off his face.

Behind him LaFiamma hear Hawk's captive say, "Tish, tell them. Tell them. If he does that to his own man... what is he going to do to us?"

Tilting Hawk's chin up, Joey kissed him lightly on the lips and whispered, "Now take your clothes, him and his clothes and leave."

LaFiamma waited until the two men were out of the room and the door was closed before he put his hand to the security pad and opened the main code system. He didn't plan to kill the man, though he knew he could - still he knew he had to give back some of what he got or he could never live with himself. He aborted access to the room for Hawk and Gerald. If anything happened to him, they'd both die in here.

Once outside the room Feldman handed the man his clothes and told him to get dressed. He smiled at his Marine buddies, Hummer and Shadow, as they turned off the laser field and hurried toward him.

Shadow touched the top of Hawk's shoulder. "Wow, what a hickey! What did you and the Major do in there?"

"Hickey?" Hawk asked flexing his left shoulder, squinting at the sting.

"Yeah, Hawkman, you got one hell of a good looking hickey on your shoulder here."

"Take this guy - he knows some of what is in the house - I've got to get back inside. The man left in there is the guy who urinated on Joe during his capture." Hawk said in a concerned voice. "Joe's gonna kill him. He as much as said he was."

Hummer and Shadow gasped. "No way would he blow his career," Shadow croaked.

Hawk turned and put his hand on the security pad. ACCESS DENIED blinked in big red letters across the top of the pad. "Get Gerald... he's the only other one who can get in."

Jake Hummerstein shook his head, "Don't think it will do any good, Hawk. If he took you out he surely took Gerald out."

"Get him anyway! Get Lundy! We have to get in there! Don't you understand --LaFiamma is in that room alone with the main man who tortured him in Lebanon!" Hawk screamed. "And take this bastard with you."

Turning from the security pad, LaFiamma's eyes narrowed, focused on the man trussed up near the ceiling. Without lowering the mesh, Joey clicked the remote and watched the man fall to the floor. Angrily the Italian growled, "You want to have clothes to wear to your deportation hearing you'd better get undressed fast."

Joe watched Pee Man undress while he ambled back to where he'd dropped the bullwhip. A devilish spread across the Italian's face as the man undressed, it spread wider as Pee Man's engorged cock was released. Joey slowly, silently picked up the whip, shook it and let it fly.

The soldier stared in stark horror as the whip wrapped itself around his cock. His screams bounced off the walls as he was jerked off his feet and body slammed into an opposite wall. Still the leather adhered to the object like glue, and Joe jerked the whip around, this time towards him, putting his foot out to stop the man's slide.

"Did I scream like that? Naw - my screams broke a window didn't they?" An unsmiling Major LaFiamma asked.

"On your feet Pisser, you and I are going to have a little fun."

Terrified by the turn of events, Tish struggled to stand, helpless as the man he tormented stripped off his shirt. His eyes widen, as LaFiamma clicked the remote in his hand as something like a Salem stock emerged from the floor.

Joe roughly shoved the man to it, forcing him to kneel on the hard wood bench; pushing his head onto a curved opening and strapping it down before doing a similar thing with the man's hands.

"Wha-what are you going to do?" Squeaked the captive in a high voice.

"Haven't decided yet - but you can bet it will be painful." Joey said walking over to the tri-fold closet and opening it wide again. Behind him on the chair, which was really a wooden step stool built into the wall, Joey heard Lundy call his name.

"LAFIAMMA ANSWER ME! DAMN IT JOE DON'T THROW AWAY YOUR CAREER HERE! LAFIAMMA! JOE!"

Finding a black hood on a shelf, Joey picked it up and walked to his captive. "Just so you can experience some of what I went through, we're going to block out your vision and your hearing. You can scream all you want - this place is soundproof." With that LaFiamma spread the black leather hood over his Pisser's head and worked it down the head to below the chin. Slapping the man's bare ass with his hand he walked to the radio.

"Lundy go back to work. Go feed your horse. You hated Taylor for killing Caroline - then you know how much I hate this man. When I'm done with him, you can have what's left. I won't answer this again." LaFiamma groused tightly.

"What about Lucia? Tomorr...." Hummer started.

"Don't worry, nothing's going to keep me from seeing that woman crawl."

"Joe, please, at least give Gerald access to the room." Lundy pleaded. When no answer came, Lundy looked at the group. "Gerald take this man to R.G." Looking at the terrified man, Lundy continued, "You'll spill your guts about this place won't you?"

"Yes, yes... but Tish... in there he knows more...."

"He's right," Hawk answered, "Pee Man, as the Major called him, knows about the snakes and other creatures under the floor. But so did that Colonel. Is he really dead?"

"Oh yeah," Gerald replied making a face. "Most gruesome thing I've ever seen -- a snake swallowing a man whole."

Hawk stared, that snake wasn't big enough to swallow a man. Maybe they said that for this man's benefit, still Feldman had to ask, "I saw that snake - he wasn't big enough for that... how... how did he die?"

Before the Marines could answer, Lundy said, "There's got to be another way into this room. What if there was a power failure? Smith would never have allowed himself to be trapped in there. There's got to be another way out."

"Levon's right," Hawk answered, "you guys take this dude and drain him, I'll work with Levon. He's the only one who can make Joe back off."

Joey returned to the closet and began looking at the self-tattooing items. Grinning he picked up a bright red one that said 'WHORE' in capital letters. Shaking it to mix the paint, he walked back to the bare ass he'd captured.

_[Lundy's right, no way can I ruin my career, I've worked too long and too hard to get here, but I can sure have some fun making this guy ready to return to his homeland.]_

He looked at the object in his hand. It was nothing like the needles that had penetrated the tender skin of his penis, but as he found out with Hawk it must be equally as painful. No way was he going to lubricate this ass, he took the object and stabbed the tiny minute prongs into the bare flesh in front of him. He held it there counting to twenty by a thousand ... one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three... oblivious to the muffled screams.   
By the time Hawk and Lundy found the emergency outside door to the playroom, Piss Man had the words 'whore,' and 'fuck me,' on his buttocks; and the words 'eat me' on each thigh.

Tears rolled down Tish's face, he was gagging in pain when Levon burst through the door, and hot summer air rolled into the air conditioned room.

"One more thing than you can have him," Joey said to the two as they eased themselves through the small opening and quickly closed the door.

The two watched as Tish was released from the stocks and the black hood was taken off his head. LaFiamma picked his bullwhip up off the floor and let it fly. Hawk and Levon watched in horror as one jerk of Joe's hand wrapped the end of the whip around his prisoner's cock, and another quick jerk pulled him to the floor. PeeMan screamed as he was tossed from one side to another, yanked by the thin leather tether wrapped around his cock.

"He's yours," Joey said simply, depositing the man at their feet. A slight shake of the wrist detached the tether. "Take 'em, while I clean up this place."

The detectives eyes met, and Joe remarked quietly, "You're right, Levon. I have worked too long and too hard to blow my career now."

"YEA - WHEN I GET DONE TELLING THE EMBASSY WHAT YOU DID YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO GET A JOB CLEANING BARS!" Tish shouted angrily.

"Embassy?" Hawk said from behind Lundy, "you need a passport to contact your Embassy. And none of your gear has passports. You're here illegally."

Lundy rolled his eyes and sneered at his partner's tormentor. "And if you don't have a passport you're put into a federal jail while you wait for deportation. And with these cute little words on your body.... Well... you'd be better off here."

"Words? What words?"

Lundy touched the man's thigh and answered, "Eat me, eat me."

Joey leaned over Piss Man's shoulder and whispered, "Your ass says whore and fuck me. Any prison you go to those big black hungry dudes will have you for breakfast lunch and dinner."

Nodding at Hawk, LaFiamma said, "Hawk get the man's clothes and get him out of here. You too Lundy, out."

"I ain't leaving you here alone, so just forget it! You want to work off steam and vent your anger, go ahead. But I ain't leaving."

Levon watched his partner close up the closet and return the stock to the floor as Hawk gathered up clothes and walked the naked man out the emergency door. Then the cowboy leaned against the wall and stared open-mouthed at the man he loved but really knew very little about. LaFiamma literally danced before him, bullwhip in hand, the continuing crack of the whip echoing around the room.

When the display was over, sweat dripping from his face, Joey motioned his cowboy lover to the main door.

"Bet people'd pay money to see that!" Levon exclaimed, a smile covering his whole face.

"They have," Joe answered sheepishly, "but I'm not telling you where."

"You going to give access back to Hawk and Gerald - fer getting' into this room?" Lundy quizzed as LaFiamma retrieved a towel from a drawer and wiped his face and neck.

"Yes, mother - I will do it right now, as we - wanna make love first?"

"Where the hell do you get the stamina for all this loving?" Levon gasped as the Italian pulled him in for a hug. Gasping from the intensity of the kiss that followed the hug, Lundy said, "you've got a big day tomorrow, going to San Ann-tone... save your strength for that."

"Party-pooper," Joey said a pout masking his face.

[][][][][][][][]

Leaning up against the bedroom wall of the living room, Joe had a good view of most of the monitors in the control room and of Gerald on the computer. He wondered why he hadn't heard anything from General Callahan regarding the promotions he put in for Gerald and Hummer.

"My god!" LaFiamma exclaimed when a monitor came up with body parts. "Is that all that is left of the Colonel? God that could have been Hummer or Shadow down there!" Pushing off from the walk, Joe was in the control room in two steps. "Where are the other two that were put into the interrogation rooms?"

"One's in the prison room," R.G. answered, pointing to a monitor in the second row. "The other's in the master bedroom. The bed fell open and he almost went down into the dark but he pulled himself out."

"I'm telling General Callahan this place is a no go. We're bulldozing the place." LaFiamma remarked evenly, disgusted with the whole place.

Piss Man merely smiled. Joe watched Tish's eyes; they had the same devilish that Joe had seen in the Middle East.

"Put him down the tube!" Joe ordered suddenly. "Take him! Put him down the tube! That's an order!"

The Marines looked at one another not understanding the purpose of the order.

"No... not the fish!! Okay, okay.... I can help... I really can help!" Tish screamed as Shadow grabbed him by the arms and jostled him to the door.

"Hummer, come with me. We'll meet him at the pool. We're going to do some bargaining, and I want a witness to this."

Joe and Hummer jogged down to pool side, they could hear muffled sounds from somewhere underground. Then suddenly an object hit the water with such force that water sprayed in all directions.

It took Tish several seconds to realize he wasn't being eaten alive. Shoving off the bottom of the pool with his bare feet, he broke the surface of the water gasping for air. He stared wide-eyed at LaFiamma and his Marine.

"NOW we will talk. Now we will bargain for your life." Joey replied nodding for the man to go to the shallow end.

"You don't have many choices here. Any way you look at it you will end up in jail before you get back home. You can help us get rid of whatever creatures are in this place ... and after that you will be turned over to Marine Intelligence. OR I can arrest you right now, and you can be transferred to a federal jail to await deportation. I might add... it sometimes takes up to two years for deportation to go through, though you are an undesirable... you could be back home tomorrow, then again you could be some big black, three hundred pound, dude's bed mate for the next two years."

LaFiamma stared at the man, when no answer came, he ordered Hummer to take the man and put him through again. Jake Hummerstein waited a second too long before following his commanding officer's order. Joey took a half a step forward and roughly shoved Hummer into the pool, then he walked to the steps grabbed Tish by the arm and walked him back up to the barn through the breezeway and into room one.

"Until you cooperate... this is what we're going to do." LaFiamma growled.

Shadow, Hawk, R.G. and Gerald watched the proceedings from the living room questioning each other about what had gotten into the Major.

Joey walked into the apartment straight for the control room, side-stepping the three Marines shooting questions at him. "R.G. open up the loudspeaker to the pool."

A second later, Major Joseph LaFiamma's voice bellowed out to the dripping wet Hummerstein who was pulling out his wallet to see what had been ruined. "HUMMERSTEIN! YOUR WALLET IS THE LEAST OF YOUR WORRIES. WAIT THERE FOR THIS MAN - HE'S COMING THROUGH AGAIN. BRING HIM UP AND PUT HIM IN ROOM ONE AGAIN. THEN COME INTO THE KITCHEN."

"R.G. when he is put in the third time, I want the floor on roll and all escape routes blocked."

"Yes, Sir, Major," R.G. answered with a salute that brought a smile to Joe's face, at least someone understands that we are at war here.

"Major, what's going on?" Shadow asked attempting to reach up and touch Joe's shoulder.

LaFiamma reacted with such speed that it caught everyone especially Shadow by surprise. Joe blocked the attempted touch on his shoulder with one hand while slapping Sam Jones across the face with the other.

The blow staggered the man and before he could recover, Joe ordered, "On your knees! Hands behind your head!"

"Gerald - get Hummer a towel and then get on that computer of yours and ask General Callahan what happened to the request for promotions I put in for over a month ago."

"You - you put that in. They're here. I have them. Printed them but I - I couldn't believe what it said."

Joey waited for Hummer to stop shivering a bit before he lambasted his troops.

"Now listen up... and listen good. This property is a training base - the same as Fort Bragg, Quanto or any other base you are stationed at. The only playroom on this property is Feldman's kinky sex room. Otherwise this is a military base. I rent the property to the Marine Corps. I have put in for promotions for all of you, but if you keep acting like sex-crazed teenagers, those promotions will be withheld or taken away, or you may lose some stripes you already have. Starting tomorrow morning at 0500 we're going for a five-mile run down to the closest high school. They have a mile track. Ten times around the track and then home. We will do this every day except Sunday. There are several churches and a synagogue in the area... I expect you all to start visiting one. If you don't think you can hack working here now's the time to say so. Gerald can cut orders and you can be airdropped within hours into any African desert or Philippine jungle that needs you."

"I bought a five-bedroom home for a wife that as of today no longer is my wife -- a five-bedroom to see kids grow up in. As of tonight all Marines who are assigned to work here will be staying on my property, not in the bunks here. The bunks here are for the Marines, soldiers... whoever they send... who come to go through the course. I have already set aside bedrooms at the house for Hummer and Shadow. Hawk's accommodations haven't been decided yet. All Marines that will be coming to work with us on the house will be staying in the bunkhouse on my property. It was decided today that those tapped for this training would be picked up from their base or home and brought directly to the barracks in this barn. The laser field will keep them locked in and they will have only the clothes on their backs which is how it would be if they had been captured."

"Jingles has already asked, and received permission to share this apartment with R.G. Once inside my house we are all equals... no one ranks above the other. Outside that house... and HERE... I am your C.O. and you will do what you are ordered to or disciplinary action will be taken. Any questions so far?"

Hummer shyly raised his hand, "We can have an actual bedroom with dresser - put pictures on the wall - posters?"

"Yes," Joey replied a half smile crossing his face.

"What about loving?" Shadow asked without looking up.

"What about loving? I would say we've had enough in the last two weeks to last us a whole year...."

"MAAAY-JOOR!" A chorus of voices chortled, faces turning into forlorn distress.

"Okay -- at the house... in the woods - Lundy's barn - the guest house on my property - BUT NOT here. If you get that hot here and need it -- you'll be a guest in Hawk's playroom."

"Speaking of the playroom, sir. Couldn't I bunk in there? Especially how that we know it has an emergency entrance. I wouldn't be meeting the captives." Hawk asked swallowing hard as his lover's eyes met his own.

"I'll think about," Joey replied, pointing to Hummer and Hawk he ordered them down on their knees with their hands behind their heads.

Joe stepped back and walked to where Gerald was standing, holding an open box. "Everything here? Yours too?"

The Italian, first in his family to voluntarily enlist in any military service, reached into the box and pulled out a plastic wrapped package marked 'Hummerstein.'

"Hummerstein - front and center." Joey said evenly holding the package close to his chest so Hummer couldn't see what was inside.

"Sir!" Jake replied, coming to attention and saluting.

Jake's eyes grew wide as the plastic was opened. "Jake Hummerstein, Gunnery Sergeant, US Marine Corps... as of this day, Friday, August 17, 1990, you are hereby promoted to an E-8 which is the rank of Master Sergeant. Congratulations Hummer." Major LaFiamma said reaching out to shake Hummer's hand. Before letting go of Jake's hand, Joe added, "Don't forget my property has a guest house - in case your mother is interested in coming, she can stay there."

"Thank you Sir! Thank you! I haven't seen my mom in three years... not since my dad died."

"Harold Feldman - front and center."

Hawk got up from his kneeling position, walked to the center of the living room, saluted and waited. And waited while Joe was in deep discussion with Gerald.

"Sorry, Hawk, back to your kneeling position. Hummer, back down to the pool... let's see if Mister PeePee man wants to cooperate yet. " Joey said turning back to Gerald.

"Contact General Callahan personally. I want to know why they made this decision on Feldman. Two grades up are not acceptable to me. Samuel Hercules Jones... front and center."

"Hercules?" R.G. chuckled from the control room.

"Samuel H. Jones... Staff Sergeant, US Marine Corps. As of this day, Friday, August 17, 1990, you are promoted to E-7, Gunnery Sergeant US Marine Corps. Congratulations, Sam."

"Thank you, Sir. ...may I have the bedroom off the kitchen?"

"No that bed is coming out of there and my weights and a treadmill are going in."

"Wouldn't it be better... Sir... to have that on the lower level. Less likely to wake any one up upstairs."

Joey's head turned slightly to the left. "Good point, Gunnery Sergeant. I'll think about it."

"Major, I have General Callahan on the line," Gerald said from behind Joe.

"General." LaFiamma listened to the two reasons Callahan had promoted Hawk from a Sergeant to a Gunnery Sergeant.

"I agree with your reason regarding his sexual needs. They are not something the average base has to offer. And the wrong person could easily abuse him, even injure him. However, I disagree with your other reason. If you put him two ranks up, he will not be promoted again, even if he re-enlists. This would give no recruiter incentive to talk him into re-upping. He stays the same or goes one grade up, that is my decision, and you said the decision was mine - not yours."

"Yes, sir... we will return the package... upon the receipt of the new one. Thank you sir." Joey hung up the phone and turned his eyes on Feldman whose face blushed deep red.

"Just what did you tell people your sexual preferences were, Hawk?" Joey asked intrigued by what Callahan had said.

"That... that I like to be tied up. Liked to see my lover masturbate in front of me... tease me until I was hard... then... then take me off... anyway they wanted to."

"Well, you're not going to be transferred out of this unit. According to your record, you scared off half your commanders because they thought you expected them to do just that. General Callahan said that half the world breathed a sigh of relief when I asked to have you transferred here. Voicing your sexual preferences, by the way, is what has kept you from being promoted. You'll be going up to Staff Sergeant when the package gets here.

"Now before we get back to the business of getting this place in shape... join me in Gerald's promotion. I have asked and it has been granted that he be moved up to officer status. He goes from Chief Warrant Officer to First Lieutenant."

"ALL RIGHT, GERRY!" R.G., Shadow and Hawk exclaimed joyfully.

Hummer stood on the edge of the pool steps watching his lover's tormentor come to the surface.

"I - I can help. I can." Tish gasped... "no more... I can't take that again. Please talk to him... please... I was here with the Colonel and Smith when they put the snakes and tarantulas in. The movie people didn't know about the snakes. There's a panel... I can show you --- you can reset everything." Piss Man said as he stood on the steps of the pool shivering in the warm night air.

"Major!" Hummer barked into the radio in his hand as Tish wrapped himself in a towel. "The guy's ready to spill his guts."

Joey stared into the eyes of his tormentor. The man was no longer defiant or belligerent. Looking at R.G., Joey asked if room three was sealed off. Then instructed Hummer to take the man there.

"Room three! NO! It can't be sealed off! The snakes.... The snakes live under room three! Please Captain LaFiamma I'll do anything, show your men everything - don't put me into room three." Tish howled his eyes wide.

"We could put him in Room Two, Major... the one that comes out into the prison room. We'd be able to see what actually...." Hummer began.

"No... no you don't understand the whole house is rigged for torment! Bugs... traps ... shocks! I want to live! Please.... I will help, please LaFiamma ... I only did what I was ordered to... please!" PeeMan pleaded dropping to his knees in front of LaFiamma.

Joey stepped backwards, opened the door to the apartment and called Hawk.

"Feldman... go to your room and bring out a chastity belt, and shackles - wrists and ankles for this man. A hammock and the black mask I had over his head when he was in there. I think we all need a good night's sleep, and we're going to use our guest here to keep any prowlers off the property." LaFiamma said a hint of a smile twitching at the corner of his mouth.

PeeMan said nothing as the block was pushed up his ass and the leather hood was hooked around his penis. He stared silently as the straps to hold it all in place were laced around his waist and thighs. He protested vehemently when he saw where the hammock was going to be hung - between two trees at the driveway turnaround just before the barn. Anyone coming into the drive would see him. The vehicle's headlights would illuminate his nakedness - the black hood over his head.

LaFiamma ordered the hammock be placed eight feet off the ground so the average man would not be able to reach it. The Major watched as Tish mounted the ladder and climbed into the hammock. Then Hummer and Hawk each took the stepladder and secured the shackled hands and feet to opposite trees.

"Okay that should do it!" Joey yelped clapping his hands together. "Tomorrow is another day. And you all will be working with him while I am in San Antonio. Hummer! Shadow! You're coming home with me. R.G. will stay here for now, though I might move him into the apartment that is in my house. I think we are going to rotate who stays in the complex."

"What about me?" Feldman asked swallowing hard when LaFiamma turned a stern eye to him.

"You're staying here with R.G. I want two men in this complex at all times. Hummer - Shadow gather up your stuff, we're going home."

Hummer and Shadow looked at each other. "We're goin' home!

"Come on you two... get going while I talk to Gerald."


	9. Lucia's Walking Papers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having learned that Lucia lied to him and is unfaithful Joe delivers the annulment papers and we meet more of his family.

**LUCIA'S WALKING PAPERS  
By Etch**

Joey unlocked the door of the house he'd bought to share with Lucia and stepped inside. Hummer flicked on light switches he found on the wall. A chandelier on the cathedral ceiling illuminated the L-shaped living room, dining room. The white stone fireplace reflected light onto the built-in glassed-in bookcases. The large screen TV was the center attention of a chocolate brown, leather circular sectional sofa.

"Guess I won't hear the pitter-patter of little feet running through here, will I? Or worry about my kids falling down the stairs and breakin' a tooth." Joey said quietly, staring into the empty room.

"Sir, we know it has to be a shock to find this out about Lu. We know you love kids and... if we could, we'd have kids for you," Hummer replied with a grin.

"Thanks, Hummer. I don't know what's going down tomorrow - tonight or what kind of a mood I'll be in when I get home... if I'm not talking... just back away and give me some space. Come on, I'll show you your rooms. It's already been a long night," Joey replied, heading for the stairs that lead to the second floor bedrooms.

At the top of the stairs was a large landing that spread out like a hand. The first bedroom on the right would be Hummer's. Then there was a large bathroom with both a shower and a Jacuzzi tub. Beyond the bathroom double doors opened into the huge master bedroom with walk in closets, tub and shower and a small sitting room. At the far end of the landing was another bedroom that Joe had tapped to be Shadow's bedroom.

"Jake, this first room, at the top of the stairs is for you. As soon as I saw it I knew it was yours." Joey pushed open the door and let Hummer go in first, switching the light on as Jake strolled into the room.

"MAY-JOR! It's... It's a bed shaped like a race car... it's what I always wanted... since I was a kid!" Jake danced around the room, peeking into the closet, peering out the window, looking in the window box. "There's sheets in here -- pillows and stuff. Even hangers in the closet."

"Well... better get those sheets out and make the bed if you want to sleep tonight. You have a long day tomorrow," Joey replied grinning, nodding to Shadow to leave.

Shadow stood in the hall and waited for LaFiamma wondering if his request to have the bedroom downstairs would come true. What he really needed was a tree house but the bedroom under the stairs would do.

Sam Jones leaned against the wall when Hummer's door closed. He knew that meant LaFiamma wanted privacy. He could walk around the house but if he weren't here when the Major came out he'd be in trouble.

"Oh, Major..." Hummer bubbled as LaFiamma wrapped his arms around him.

"Easy, Jake..." Joey purred kissing him lightly on the chin, the mouth, "make your bed and put your room together. I'll be back in a bit and tuck you in."

"How much of you will you tuck in?" Hummer asked gleefully, the look on Joey's face told him that LaFiamma understood perfectly well what he wanted tucked in.

"We'll, see, Hummer, okay." Joey said as he opened the door and walked into the hall where his second Marine was waiting.

"Well, Hercules Jones... you ready for your room too? I'm afraid I can't let you have the room under the stairs. If we ever find a cook or a housekeeper that is where he or she will be living. However... there is another bedroom up here that should fit you to a tee."

Shadow followed his lover, his friend, his commanding officer down the hall and into a room that was void of any furniture and had half of a wall jutting out of one corner.

"Major, this place doesn't even have a closet?" Sam moaned looking around the barren room.

"Well, not an ordinary closet... no," Joey said walking to the angled wall on the opposite wall. "But you can always put a shelf with those Amish chair hooks along the wall to hang things on. As I remember you travel as light as possible...." He grinned pointing to something beyond Shadow's sight.

"And just what is around this corner? Some kind of weird kiddies bed that..."

"When I first looked at this house with Lundy I figured it was the perfect place for Handsome's Harem to live. Thought Lu and I would actually get a smaller house. Instead I'll just stay here, the master bedroom has a huge king-size platform bed... and I'll just have my lovers with me. When I saw this room, and that bed built into this alcove I figured it was as close to a tree house as you would ever get. AND since Warsaw is moving down here, I'm sure you could talk him into painting you a real dandy one. Birds... monkeys on the outside here. What do you think?" Joey said anticipation that his lover was satisfied with his choice.

"You bought this house for us?" Sam asked his breath taken away by what was being presented to him.

"Shadow, I care for you deeply. Hummer, R.G., Hawk, too. I want you all in a safe place. I don't ever want any of us to be in the situation we got into in the Amazon. Cutting out a man's stomach to keep us all from being on a headhunter's breakfast table, is not the way to start the day. That nightmare still haunts me. I want Smith's house to work. Want you and Hummer and R.G. to take Tish apart tomorrow, today, and make it work."

Before Joey knew what was happening Shadow had him on the floor, his pants were being unzipped and his cock was pulled out. LaFiamma didn't protest, he allowed the pleasure his lover wanted to give and eagerly accepted the gift.

When it was over, Sam leaned against the wall and stared at the limp figure on the floor in front of him. "Major! I'm... I'm sorry I wasn't thinking. Shouldn't have taken you that way. But nobody's ever done anything like this for me before. That's ... that's the only way I know to show my appreciation ..." Shadow stammered wondering if his C.O. was even alive.

"Am I - complaining?" Joey rasped, trying hard to catch his breath from the intensity of the blow job he'd just been given.

"Sam...you remember what happened to the Chicago package? It was on the bed in the loft before you all moved the stuff here. I haven't seen it since," Joey asked accepting a hand up.

"We stuck it in the bedside table... but I ain't seen that table in the house yet."

"Probably because that table stayed with the apartment. You'd better hop over there first thing tomorrow morning ... in Charlies ... and see if they have it. Pray they didn't open it!"

"Come on, sir, I'll help you to bed, then check on Hummer and do a security check to make sure everything is locked up," Sam Jones remarked slipping his arm around LaFiamma's waist and assisting him to the door.

Joey was just nestled into bed and having a sweet dream about Levon when Shadow knocked on the bedroom door and tiptoed in.

"What is it, Shad?" Joey asked groggily, letting the sheet twist around him as he turned in the bed.

"I found the Chicago package downstairs in the kitchen. An.... And there's someone else in the house too. There are lights in the lower level. We never went down there." Sam explained anxiously.

"Did you check on Hummer?" LaFiamma questioned, untangling himself from the sheets, and glancing around the room for his guns.

"Jake's asleep. Sacked out like a baby ... his arms wrapped around a pillow that looks like a steering wheel."

"Still carry that pistol in your duffel bag," Joey asked getting up from the bed and walking into the closet to get some pants on. "What the hell happened to my holster and guns?" The Italian growled softly coming out of the closet in Marine dress pants.

"You took them off in the van on the way back to the complex from Reisner. They must still be there. I'll get...."

"No... I have something that will work just as well and be just as effective," LaFiamma answered with a smile returning to the closet to get his Marine sword.

"Let's go see who this party crasher is." LaFiamma replied as the two walked barefoot, silently into the hall, down the stairs, through the kitchen to the top of the six steps that lead to the basement level of the multi-level house.

Joey walked noiselessly, it reminded him of when he would sneak up behind his brothers when they were studying for exams and scare the hell out of them. And that was just what he planned to do here. At the bottom of the stairs, Shadow touched Joe's elbow and nodded to their right. A young man in his early twenties sat curled up in a big overstuffed chair reading a book.

In two steps, LaFiamma was there. Major LaFiamma swiftly lifted the sword and flicked the book out of the boy's hands and put the weapon to the man's chin.

"ARRRGGH!" The young man with hair to his shoulders shouted trying to pull away but finding no place to go.

"WHO ARE YOU? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Joey demanded sharply his eyes narrowing into the face of the man he had cornered.

"I live here. Well, I used to live. My dad owns the place. My name is Lance Baker." Lance blurted out his eyes wide at the sight of two armed soldiers.

"I know all of Doc Baker's boys ... you aren't one of them!" LaFiamma responded not moving the sword. "Baker and his wife sold the house and all the locks were changed! How'd you get in?"

"They... sss-sold it? After all this time? Wh...when?"

"It's been sold and I own it! I repeat, who are you and how did you get in?" Joey demanded, drawing a bit of blood on the boy's chin.

"Hey, man watch it! That thing is sharp!" Lance Baker gasped looking at the drops of blood on his hand. "Can't you put that thing down? I ... I got a key to the side door of the apartment. That's how I always get in."

"Shadow?" Joey said evenly.

"I got him, Sir. He won't be going anywhere." Sam replied, his pistol lay against his arm pointing directly at Lance Baker's chest.

Joey lowered the sword, dropping it to his side. "Now tell me the truth. Who are you?"

"I TOLD YOU! My name is Lance Baker... it is!" Lance shouted. "My dad's ashamed of me... cause he found out I was gay! My mom gave me a key to the side door so when I came home she could meet me here and we could talk. My brothers have tried to talk to the great Doctor Tom Baker but it hasn't done any good! Ever since he came unannounced to school in California and found out that my roommate named Terry wasn't a girl, he's been ballistic. He... he told me I could forget about coming home because as far as he was concerned I was dead." Lance half shouted, half cried into LaFiamma's face.

"What were you doing in California?" Joey asked motioning Sam to put away his weapon.

"Culinary school ... I wanted to be a chef, but I guess that's out of the question. I applied to a couple places I know in Houston, but when they called my dad to ask about me ---- he told them he didn't have a son name Lance." Lance replied sorrowfully.

"Well Lance, it just so happens that we're looking for a cook, and if that cook is a chef that is all the better. You'll have to get a haircut though, and allow my detective partner to get you finger printed ... and have a drug test. --- Sam might as well give Levon a call. If I have to be up so should he."

"SERGEANT LEVON LUNDY! He knows me! He does!" Lance yelped almost lunging at LaFiamma.

The lunge terrified Shadow who immediately stepped between the two. Sam grabbed Lance by the shirt and shoved him back into the chair. There was no way he wanted what happened with General Smith to happen again.

"It's okay, Sam, make the call," LaFiamma replied touching Shadow on the shoulder.

"Major, I can't leave you alone! Not after what happened with General Smith. You're to be protected 24 hours a day," Sam Jones replied through tight lips.

"Go ahead Shad, I got the guy covered," Hummer said in a low voice behind them.

LaFiamma glanced over his shoulder to see his other housemate standing at the bottom of the steps, in boxer shorts, holding an AK-47.

"Geezzz...Hummer. Where the hell did you get that gun?" Joey quizzed smiling at the sight of his six foot, three inch, two hundred-pound protector.

"Our last mission, sir. Nobody collected it ... so I just kept it. It's illegal, isn't it?" Hummer offered with a grin. "Who's the kid?"

"Says he's one of Doctor Baker's sons. Bring him up into the living room while I call Lundy. Shadow check out the apartment," Joey said, turning he headed for the stairs and the kitchen.

"There's a phone right here," Lance injected pointing to old-fashioned English phone on a table near the chair he'd been sitting on. "You can call Levon from there."

LaFiamma changed direction, went to the phone and dialed his partner's number, listening to the man growl into the phone about the time. "Yeah, I know it's four in the morning, Lundy, but if we have to be awake we figured you should be too. Got a trespasser in the house who says you can identify him. Says his name is Lance Baker. I've met the Baker sons, this guy is not one of them. Uh, huh. Yeah....hold on."

Holding the phone to his bare chest, LaFiamma asked Hummer to take Lance's pants down. Even though the boy vehemently protested Hummer won in the end.

"Okay, cowboy. He's naked from the waist down, now what? A scar, huh? Where?" Still holding the phone to his heart, not realizing that Levon was lying in bed hearing his heart beat, Joey squatted in front of Lance. Moving one of Baker's balls to the side, LaFiamma traced his finger down a scar that went halfway down the inside of Lance's leg.

"Okay, he's got scar number one. Where's the other one?" Joey asked, his eyes not missing the surge of the man's cock as his finger trailed inside the thigh.

"Turn around!" Joey watched a grin burst across Hummer's face as LaFiamma pinched and prodded one of Lance's butt cheeks to expose a scar Levon was describing to him.

"Okay, Levon, he's got those two scars.... Anything else? Mmmm .... Really? Hang on. Take your shirt off kid." Joey said dropping the receiver into the chair.

"COME ON! YOU ALREADY HALF UNDRESSED ME!"

"Levon's giving us proof of who you are ... would you rather go to jail for trespassing?" Joey shot back sternly into Lance's face as Shadow came up behind the man and deftly took his shirt off.

Following Levon's instructions, Joey found the inch long scar on Lance's chest. When LaFiamma asked Baker how he got the scars, Lance was reluctant to tell him until Joey reaffirmed the fact that Levon had told and that their stories had better match. When it was over, Levon had identified Lance without having to come to the house. Joey wished his partner well and hung up the phone.

"Shadow, what'd you find back there," Joey asked while Lance put his clothes back on.

"He's got books, some real kinky xxx-rated videos ... looks like he's a cross dresser from the clothes in the closet. Got beer in the refrig, bagels, some eggs and not much else." Sam Jones reported, giving his Major a salute.

"Did you run out on your lover? He going to come looking for you?" Joey asked sizing up the man. They could use a cook, but would this guy be an employee in a house that used to be his.

"No sir, he dumped me just before my final exam. Said he needed younger material for his routine. I came home from school one day and all his stuff was gone. All he did was leave a message on my answer machine." Lance explained remorse in his voice.

"You were an exhibitionist?" Sam asked.

"I...I wasn't before I met him. When he showed me how much I come make... I paid for my tuition and made a good living. Then someone from school saw me. Told me I'd better stop if I wanted to continue going to that school."

"Your lover didn't like it?" Joey asked quietly remembering a cousin who got hooked into that world and died in it.

"No he didn't. I guess I should have seen it coming. He got real grouchy, then moved out a couple weeks later." Lance remarked, jumping as the phone rang next to him.

Sam answered the phone, and quietly said, "Major, its Levon."

"Yeah, cowboy, what's up?" Joey replied into the phone, listening intently his face getting serious as his partner told him some more information about Lance Baker.  _//Several arrests in Frisco for prostitution. Exposing himself, offering himself to anyone free of charge at a theatre opening, is not someone I want here.//_

"Thanks, Lundy, hang loose tonight, will you? I don't know what kind of a mood I'm going to be in when I get back," Joey remarked to his partner as they said their good-byes.

The change of LaFiamma's face and the reaction it got from the two soldiers was not lost on Lance. "Something wrong?" He asked, wondering if Levon had called back with more information on him.

"If he's a chef, sir ... it looks like Major Callahan won't have to hire one. We got one right here." Hummer replied slinging the AK-47 over his shoulder.

"Yeah, we got him...but we're not keeping him," Joey replied tightly, his eyebrows narrowing. "He has a police record in California and in Houston. He is not someone who would work well with us. Your father disowned you for more reasons than being gay, didn't he? You want to tell these MARINES what it is ... or shall I?" Joe watched color drain from Lance Baker's face. The cocky man wasn't so bold when Joey said they were Marines.

Looking at Shadow and Hummer, Joey began to relate what Levon had just told him over the phone. "Remember last year when that Marine recruiter in San Diego got caught by his wife with a man. This - is - the - man!" Joey said pushing a fist into Baker's chest.

"The Corps was just on the verge of giving the recruiter a dishonorable discharge plus he was pleading with his wife not to divorce him, when Lance's lover Terry, who hosted a local TV talk show, devoted one show to how far will a dare go. Terry didn't give Lance's name, but the Corps found out who it was. Then they found out who Lance's father was ... one of their top medical people. They told Doctor Baker he had better get his son in line, or take early retirement."

"I didn't know," Lance cried falling back into the chair. "I didn't know he'd get called onto the carpet... I didn't"

"If you were a Marine brat, you knew!" Shadow growled into Baker's face. "You knew in your heart that if any member of the Baker family screwed up, your dad would be held responsible! You're an asshole Baker! You're not fit for horse fodder!"

"The Doc went to see his son about the fiasco," Joey continued, his eyes boring a hole through Lance's skull, "and Lance laughed in his face ... asked his dad if he needed his rocks taken off. Said he liked having men fuck his ass, and that his dad had better get used to it. That if someone dared him again, he'd do it again just to see how far it would go."

Lance sunk back into the chair; he didn't like the looks the two Marines were giving him. Damn, he wished his mother had told him the house had been sold.

"Hummer, take Lance into the jail cell we've made in the bunkhouse. Shadow, go through that apartment again and pack up everything you think is his. We're keeping him on ice until I get back tonight."

Joey waited until they all left before picking up the phone and calling the complex. When R.G. answered, Joey asked to speak to Hawk. "You're on report, Feldman! We had an intruder in the house tonight! Someone who got in with a KEY! Yes, a key! We all could have been killed, or the place could have been torched because of your negligence! I want you over here now! I want you walking around this house twenty-five times, and each time you find the door that you forgot to change the lock on I want it re-keyed! After you've re-keyed it twenty-five times, go into the kitchen of that apartment, sit on a straight-backed chair with your cock hanging out of your pants and your hands behind your head. You will be that way, Feldman, until I tell you to move ... do you understand me!" LaFiamma shouted into the phone anger seething through him. Dropping the ornate phone onto its cradle, Joey turned on his heel and headed upstairs through the living room to the bedroom area. The slamming of the master bedroom doors shook the house as Hummer entered the kitchen and Shadow emerged from the lower level.

"Think he's mad," Hummer remarked going to the refrigerator for some orange juice.

"Oh, yeah, I think you could say that. Pour me a glass too. And from what I just heard him tell Hawk for missing the lock on that side door ... I hope Hawk survives." Shadow replied reaching for the glass of juice his friend had poured for him.

"This thing with Lucia's got to be eating away at him. It's going to affect all of us. We're all going to take the brunt of his anger. We'd better clue Levon in too," Hummerstein remarked, downing his juice.

"He said we're all equals in the house, didn't he?" Shadow said sipping the last of his juice before going to the phone to call Levon and inform him of what had just gone down.

"That's what he said...but right now I don't think he believes it." Hummer remarked sadly. "And even when he said it, I knew we never could be. We can't man! He's our C.O. and always will be."

"No answer at Levon's. Answer machine came on. Hope he's on his way over. It's past 0530, reckon that run isn't going to happen," Sam replied at a loss as to what to do.

][][][][][][]]

"Hawk!" Levon hollered out his window as he slowed the Jimmy. "Hop in, I'll give you a ride."

Jogging along the shoulder, Feldman waved Lundy off.

"Come on! I'll let you off at the beginning of the driveway, you can run in from there." Lundy called this time driving across the traffic lane to cut off the Marine's path.

It was a standoff but the cowboy won. As Feldman settled into the passenger seat where LaFiamma usually sat he told Levon of his worry. "I'm really worried about him. I served with him for two years. I've never seen him this mad."

"It's the thing with Lucia. It's got to be eating away at him," Levon answered, "he really was looking forward to having some kids, kids that would carry on his legacy, his name. She's taken all that away. As much as he loves each one of us ... his upbringing tells him he has to have kids to carry on his family name or it dies with him."

"I'm not sure I can survive the punishment he's giving me for how that kid got in the house." Harold Feldman continued as if Levon hadn't said a word.

"Punishment?" Levon asked as he pulled into the long driveway and stopped.

Hawk explained what Joe had told him to do when he got there.

"I'll talk to him," Lundy began.

"NO! Levon please! Don't say a word! Don't even mention that I told you please. Please don't! I deserve punishment. That guy could have torched the place. They could have all -- been killed!" Hawk gasped the agony in the words hurt Levon's soul.

"The LaFiamma I know clams up and doesn't say a word when he gets mad," Levon said as Feldman got out of the Jimmy. "It took me a whole week once to find out what he was mad about."

Hawk watched Lundy drive up the winding driveway that led to LaFiamma's house. He stood and looked at his watch giving Levon five minutes before jogging in. When he arrived in the backyard Hummer, Shadow and Levon warmly greeted him.

"Hawk...Hummer and I have decided to stand up to LaFiamma about what's he's asked of you. You can't agree to it, man, you just can't." Shadow remarked letting Levon in on the conversation the two Marines had had. "He said we were equals on this property..."

"We aren't equals...Sam," Hawk replied catching sight of LaFiamma watching them from his bedroom window. "We've never been his equal. He's an officer. We're enlisted personnel. As much as we want to be, we can't be equal to him. Could we have made some of those decisions he had to make on missions? Not me! Sizing up situations, he made them in a flash. What he's seen in Chicago growing up with his family is more than we'll see in a lifetime."

Joey watched the group with interest. Why, oh, why had he said what he did to Feldman? Did he actually get a charge out of punishing the man? Joe turned and looked at the king-size bed he was going to share with Lucia. Why did every women he fell in love with leave him, or turn up dead? Throwing up his hands, Joey let out an unearthly scream and threw himself onto the bed. His body curled into a fetal position visibly shaking as he sobbed.

The four outside froze. It took but a second for Levon to realize who it was and he was on a dead run for the kitchen door before the others moved.

Hawk held the other Marines back. "Watch the outside and the prisoner."

"Are you kidding?" Hummer yelped "we're responsible for him!"

"Yeah you are ... but that doesn't mean you have to be with him 24 hours a day! Now back off! This has to do with me!" Hawk growled heading for the door.

"Okay, man, we don't want to fight you. Go on, we'll take the perimeter," Shadow said nodding.   
  
  
  


Levon took the stairs two at a time and burst through the closed doors of the master bedroom. The cowboy was shocked to see his partner sobbing uncontrollably on the bed.

"LaFiamma? Joe?" Lundy said, quietly walking to the bed, then moving onto it to take hold of the Italian's shoulders.

Joey nestled into the warmth of the cowboy's arms. "I can't do it anymore, Levon, I can't!" Joey sobbed. "This Marine stuff ... being boss ... it's getting to me. It's been too long since I was in...I love him, man.... I can't take giving him the punishment he wants ... it's eating me up inside ... what Hawk needs -- but I don't want him to leave. What am I goin' do, Levon? Everyone I love ... leaves me."

Lundy glanced up to see Hawk standing on the opposite side of the bed, his face streaked with tears. "I don't think he plans to leave you, Joe," Levon continued, his fingers rubbing his partner's shoulders. "But I think you need to tell him how you feel. He needs to know there are other ways of saying 'I love you' besides confinement or a whip."

"I ... I didn't know what I wanted was hurting you, sir." Feldman replied dropping down on the bed in front of LaFiamma touching his face. "I love you so much, Major. I'd gladly die for you. I'd never do anything to hurt you ... I wouldn't. Its ... its just that ... that's the only way I know. I learned that love didn't come unless you suffered first, that you couldn't just enjoy it. That's all I know."

Joey looked up as Hawk touched him.

"If Lu really loved you, she would be here right now. She's not worth the pain you're feeling," Hawk said softly, his whole body rebelling against Joe's attempt to pull his shirt out of his pants.

"I just want to make love to you Hawk. Whatever your abuser told you about enjoying sex ... he was wrong, dead wrong. It's a beautiful thing. Levon can attest to that." Joey said not letting go of Lundy's hand.

"Levon ... stay, please. Don't give me that look. I need help here," Joey pleaded wiping the wetness off his cheeks. "You need to help me ... help him to understand what pure pleasure there is in loving. Please cowboy, don't you leave me too."

"I told you LaFiamma, I ain't leaving you. I belong to you remember," Levon replied, than continued with a harsh growl, " Hell why didn't you tell me you marked my ass with the biggest damn hickey in the world? Thought I sat on a bee at Reisner and had Estaban look at my butt ... gees you could have told me!"

A smile crossed LaFiamma face. "I like to surprise people," the Italian croaked.

"Well ... I'm surprising you right now ... I love you. I don't mind that you have other lovers ... but I ain't staying in the room when you take one all the way. I told you, I did a threesome once, I ended up on the losing end." Levon groused pulling away from LaFiamma's hold.

"Yeah, but you ain't had a threesome with me. And I made that hard-on you got growing in your pants, and as Hawk here says...they need to go to who makes them. And who makes them is me. So both of you get undressed." LaFiamma said grabbing them and pulling them down to the bed.

[][][][][[][][]

"So, was it good?" Joey asked as he rolled off the bed to the floor then jumped to his feet, pulling his partner with him.

"Oh yeah! And I got a feeling that was the first real orgasm Hawk ever had, it came out of his toes and went through every pore." Levon responded with a smile as his partner handed him his pants.

"Couldn't have done it without you Levon. Holding him ... telling him it was okay to enjoy the touch, the kiss. I doubt he'll be the same. We might have to do it again..."

"Thought you'd say that ... let's just try it one on one next time ... maybe just you, maybe just me," Levon replied not sure Joe would like the statement about him and Hawk.

""Yeah ... you and him would be good. Your soothing voice is what helped to get rid of the demons he was carrying ... words someone put into his head ... they festered for too long," LaFiamma said pulling his partner in for a hug. "I'm starved, how about you?"

"Starved!" Levon answered bending to throw the blanket over Harold "Hawk" Feldman asleep on LaFiamma's bed with the biggest smile Lundy had ever seen on anyone.

"Who's cooking the eggs ... you or me?" Joe said heading for the door as he slipped his tee shirt over his head.

"I'll do the bacon ... you do eggs. How long you think we should let him sleep?" Levon asked following his partner down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"For as long as he wants," LaFiamma replied with a chuckle. "I don't think Hawk's ever slept as soundly as he is right now."

[][][][]

Markus LaFiamma growled and threw the phone down. He'd been on his cell phone for an hour calling his cousin Joey and still the line was busy. "What the hell can he talk about for an hour?" Markus yelled to chauffeur who told the diplomat that they were approaching LaFiamma's house and would be there shortly.

[][][][

A constant burping noise was driving Hawk crazy. He thrashed around in Joey's bed batting at the pillows and the mattress. He reached out to one side and then the other to see if Joe or Levon were still there. Finding no one he sat up and looked around. "What the hell is that noise?" He growled gruffly reaching down the side of the bed toward the sound. Grabbing what he thought it was, Hawk bolted upright twisting on his knees to attack the green coil that rubbed against his arm. He was ready to give it a hatchet chop when he realized it was the telephone that had been on the bedside table. Feldman burst out laughing ... a crackle that carried downstairs and brought grins to the two Houston detectives eating breakfast.

"This is great! Macho Marine attacked by telephone!" Hawk chuckled looking around the room for his clothes. He found everything except his shoes and socks. He looked under the covers ... everywhere but they were nowhere to be found.

The duo detectives were just finishing breakfast when Hummer and Shadow walked in to inform LaFiamma that a long white limo was driving up the driveway.

"Limo?" Joey quizzed rinsing off his dishes. Before Joe could say another word Markus LaFiamma burst into the kitchen, flinging the door open, he marched straight for LaFiamma.

Hummer was on him first, then Shadow. One Marine grabbed his arms and eagle-spread him against the wall while the other patted him down for weapons.

"Damn! Hope I never make an advance on you LaFiamma," Lundy said with a grin, "those guys mean business when they said they're here to protect you."

A huge grin spread across LaFiamma's face but he made no move or a sound to stop the pat down.

Markus turned, straightened his jacket and began lambasting his cousin, "What the hell is this? I walk into my cousin's house and get patted down! Is that any way to treat FAMILY? I've been calling you for over an hour! All I'm getting is a busy signal! What would you do if someone really wanted to get to you?"

"Busy signal?" Joey quizzed walking to greet the man he hadn't seen in years.

"Nobody's been on the phone. Sure you're calling the right number?"

Hummer, Shadow and Levon watched suspiciously as Markus and Joey hugged each other, kissed, and then did a thumb to thumb twist into a handshake. "Hey bro, how are things in D.C? You still in the escort service?" Joey asked his Italian counterpart from Washington.

Into this little family gathering burst Hawk seeking things he couldn't find. "Joey! What happened to my socks? My shoes? I can't find them anywhere." Hawk demanded rushing into the kitchen.

Joe and Levon glanced at each other, smiles twisting at the corner of their mouths. "I'll get 'em," Levon offered heading for the kitchen door.

"Outside? What the hell they doing out there?" Hawk questioned, confused as to why Levon would go outside the house for his shoes.

"Don't you remember?" Joe asked looking at the Marine he and his partner had laid.

"Levon go get them." Joey said nodding to his partner to retrieve Hawk's shoes wherever they landed when Hawk threw them out the window.

"You remember anything?" Joey asked concern in his voice that Hawk's orgasm was so deep memory of the enjoyment that led to it had been wiped away.

"Oh yeah, I remember.... I remember some of it. It ... it came out of my toes. I ... I never came like that before. Never without ... you know." Hawk said gesturing to LaFiamma in a way that only Joey understood.

"Look, Joey ... we can't stand around here waiting for one of your soul mates to talk about how good you gave it to him. Lucia's moved her party up from nine o'clock to seven o'clock," Markus blasted frustrated that Joey wasn't alone.

"Why move it? What's the rush?" LaFiamma quizzed watching Hawk as he tried to remember why his shoes were outside.

"My informant said she's told people she wants to surprise her husband who is due home from the hospital today."

"That lyin' bitch!" Shadow growled. "When do we leave, Major?"

"You an' Hummer ain't going. Hawk's going." Joey answered raising his hands as they began to protest.

"You two were at the wedding. She knows about Shadow's expertise and would announce it loud and clear to anyone present. As far as she knows Hawk went back to San Diego. No arguing boys, I ain't in the mood." LaFiamma remarked sharply.

"Yeah, come on, I'll get your dress blues...Admiral English gave them to me special," Markus cut in.

"Dress blues? Why the hell would I wear dress blues? This isn't a formal gathering. A lady's going to get her butt kicked royally," LaFiamma stated firmly, his jaw tight. "...and we only wear one thing when we kick butt!"

"Oh, May-jor!" Shadow moaned, "dressed in black and in paint she wouldn't recognize us, would she?"

Levon watched the grin spread across Hawk's face. The Texan had eased himself back into the kitchen and stood listening to the banter between LaFiamma and this man who Levon figured was probably a cousin. This must be how it is when the LaFiamma family gets together, Levon thought. No wonder Joe gets a charge out of bugging him all day, he grew up doing it.

Levon tossed Hawk's shoes to him. The look on Feldman's face told the Texan that Hawk was happy that he'd be going instead of the others.

"We'll be painted, but only partial, 'cause we'll be wiping it off as we disembark from the chopper. Any one, who knows my reputation, knows I would be coming in off a field operation. Let's just hope we don't get any onlookers falling in behind just to see what's going down. You do have your chopper on the horn, don't you, Markie," Joey continued, biting his tongue to keep from laughing as he used his brother's childhood name. "San Antonio is a three hour drive from here, not counting construction and accidents. That's six hours round trip. After I bring her down I DON'T want to sit in a car for three hours ... I want back here as fast as I can get here."

"Okay, okay, Joey...I'll have my driver contact the chopper!" Markus LaFiamma answered looking at his youngest brother and the grinning Marine with no shoes. "But if you keep callin' me Markie...."

Shadow stepped away from the kitchen island into Markus' face and said, "Or you'll do what?"

"You're just damn lucky your name was Joe, and all you got called was Joey!" Markus yelped waving his fist at Joe before heading for the kitchen door.

"Lundy," Joey said quickly, "Would you take Hawk back to the complex and load up his stuff and bring it back here. His bike ... everything. Can you fit it in?"

"Well...since he's moving to the bedroom under the stairs here, reckon I'm the only one left here who can do it. If I run out of room, I'll just tie Hawk across my hood." Lundy answered with a grin, glancing at his partner who had an equal grin.

"Me - here? Under the stairs? I thought that's for the cook ... I don't cook." Hawk mumbled confused by the words Joe and Levon were saying.

"You don't -- remember anything, do you?" Joey quizzed, again looking into the man's confused face. "You don't remember agreeing to move into the house? To be the eyes and ears I wanted on the first floor -- you asked if it could be you and I said yes."

Hawk shook his head, "so much was going on.... I...I was enjoying you...an' Levon's voice was telling me to relax that it was okay to enjoy it. That ... that I didn't have to be punished to enjoy it.... and then it just starting coming, and coming and coming. I thought I was gonna die. All the words I'd been told about sex being bad ... about having it only after I'd been punished for enjoying it... All I know Major is that if Callahan transfers me out of here, I'll resign first. What you did for me.... What Levon did you me... I don't want to lose that.... Ever."

"Well, Hawkman, according to what General Callahan said you aren't being transferred anywhere for the rest of your hitch. Now put your shoes on and go get your gear and bring it back here."

"Yes sir, Major!" Harold Feldman yelped coming to sharp attention and saluting. Then looking sorrowfully at Lundy, Hawk asked, "where's my socks, all I got is shoes?"

"Must be under the limo. Let's look when we go out," Lundy replied with a grin. He and Joey exchanged glances. It had been good, the three of them together.

The departure of Hawk and Levon left the kitchen in silence. The two Marines weren't sure about leaving their C.O. alone with Markus, a real Mafia-looking person, who had come back into the house as Hawk and Levon left.

"Major, we have to make a decision about Lance Baker? What are we going to do with him?" Hummer asked breaking the silence.

"You got Lance Baker? Doctor Baker's kid?" Markus yelped glee in his voice and on his face.

"Yeah, we found him in the house. He got in by some door we didn't know about. He's got a real history ... I don't want him around here." Joey answered sarcastically.

"I want him!" Markus LaFiamma replied tightly. "I tried to get him in California but he got away. A lot of people want him dead for what he did to his father! Me ... I want what he's good at ... and I've got Far East clientele that will pay big money to see it. Where is he?"

"How come you're here and not Peter?" Joey asked not making a move or acknowledging his cousin's request.

"Our cousin, the priest, called me last night and said the family was voting on how to deal with Lucia. Told me to get here and get her out before Teresa arrived with Roberto to transport her back to Chicago."

"Oh, shit - ROBERTO!" Joey exclaimed, shocked that the family would try to put Lu into one of Roberto LaFiamma's private sex clubs.

"Hey Joey, this lady ain't only insulted you! She's insulted the whole damn family ... all three hundred and eighty-four of us!" Markus yelped gesturing to his brother. "She was going to provide children! Peter said Aunt Teresa was thrilled when Lucia told her you would finally get the children you always wanted. Lucia lied, Joey. You know what happens when you lie to the MATRIARCH! Nobody does that to Aunt Teresa and gets away with it, you know that!"

"Boy don't I know that!" Joey replied breaking into rapid fast Italian that brought a belly laugh out of Markus. "I remember that some college kid slapped her in anger and no one's heard from him since. .... But Mark... Roberto? " Joey replied shaking his head at the turn of events, " ... it'd be better if she was fitted with cement shoes for a trip down the Chicago River,"

"You got the annulment papers with you?" Joey asked, watching Markus reach into his jacket pocket, waving the Marines back. Joey knew the others present didn't trust this man, and he knew there were times he didn't trust this brother of his, but basically Markus ran a clean operation that was sanctioned by Uncle Sam.

After looking over the papers Joey handed them back then turned to Shadow and said, "Shadow take Markus out to see Baker. And bro.... I want that bastard off this property before I get back here tonight!"

"Hummer? My guns still in the van? Find 'em will you, I'm going up to get dressed."

Hummer didn't' move he just stared at LaFiamma. Joey looked at him, waiting until everyone left to ask what the problem was. "Hummer?"

"You ... you called him cousin ... now you called him bro, and bro is short for brother. Who is he?"

"He's my brother, Hummer. I have five...had five brothers. Markus is the oldest. I'm the youngest. He was already in high school when I came along. I didn't even know he was my brother until I was about seven. All I knew he was another cousin coming to the house for Sunday dinner. He's my brother, Jake. He was in the Foreign Service for a while stationed in Europe. Now he is the administrator of a string of brothels that dignitaries from other countries come to, to enjoy their sexual whims... how about my guns, huh?"

[][][][][][][][]

The crew at Smith's complex was surprised to see the red Jimmy drive up the driveway and park close to the barn. They were even more flabbergasted to learn that Hawk was going to be moving to LaFiamma's house. R.G. wasn't at all pleased to know that his friend wasn't going to be sharing the apartment that housed the control room. Jingles and Trap were okay but just didn't have the relaxed friendly manner that Hawk did. Little did R.G. know that he too would soon be gracing the premises of LaFiamma's house, though Joe had confided in no one that the apartment where Lance Baker had been found was soon going to become R.G.'s apartment. R.G. was a civilian on Marine run property and LaFiamma knew that in the long run R.G. would need a place of his own and he was going to make sure that he, Joe, was the one that provided it.

[][][][][][][]

Upstairs in his bedroom, Joe laid out on his big king-size bed his black tee shirt, pants, vest, boots. He stared at the Chicago package that lay on the dresser. Reading that would have to wait until he got back tonight. Maybe reading it would calm his nerves. He knew Hawk could feel the anger that was building inside him. He knew Hawk was the only one who could hold him in tonight should he want to break Lucia's cute little neck right off. Maybe his sex kitten would fit into Roberto's, at least she'd be alive and have three square meals a day. Better than dumping her into the Chicago River, he wondered what argument Aunt Teresa used to keep Lu alive.

Joey started for the shower then paused halfway and walked back to the telephone. Dialing the complex's number, he was informed that Hawk was already on his way back with everything including his motorcycle wedged sideways into the back of Lundy's Jimmy. Joey asked to speak to R.G.

"Hey, R.G. how's my civilian doing in Marine land?" Joey asked jokingly. LaFiamma smiled at R.G.'s comeback and was silent for a moment before saying, "Shut up, R.G. and listen! I'm leasing that property to the Corps. Yes, you ARE in charge of the Control Room and everything that goes down! You WILL train anyone who comes,"" Joey affirmed strongly. "But since you're not in the Corps any more I thought... I want you to move into this apartment that is ...yes the one by the bird feeders...." Joey smiled, this ex-Marine that was built like a boxer had the heart of Mickey Mouse.

Joey was speechless when R.G. asked if he could stay where he was. That he was already making it his home and since Joey did own the property shouldn't a civilian be around to make sure the property wasn't destroyed. LaFiamma couldn't argue with that. In fact it was something Joe hadn't even thought of. "You win, Reginald Gregory. I'll have Gerald draw up some papers that state you are responsible for the place. I love you too."

[][][][][][][]

Arriving back at Joey's place Hawk bounced into the kitchen and asked for help to unload, finding no one but hearing the shower he figured at least one was probably upstairs with Joe. Turning, Hawk reached for the door and was surprised when it opened and Hummer, Shadow and Markus entered the kitchen carrying his stuff. Looking at Shadow, Hawk said grinning, "Figured you'd be up there in the shower with him."

"You and Joey do it in the shower?" Markus LaFiamma asked giving the Marine an odd look.

"Oh, Shadow does his best work..." Lundy jovially started but a look from the Marines quickly killed the rest of the words.

Tossing Hawk's duffel to him, Levon asked, "What you got in this thing - rocks?"

"Well, if I'm going with him, I guess I'd better shower too, and get ready. Can one of you dudes find my night gear in the duffel bag while I shower?" Feldman asked to no one in particular.

As Hawk walked into his new bunking area, Levon wandered up to Joe's bedroom and plunked down into an over-stuffed chair. Hummer helped Markus load up Lance Baker's things into the trunk of the limo while Shadow laid out Hawk's gear then went to guard Baker until he was ready to be moved.

Coming out of the shower, Joe was surprised to see his partner in the room.

"Going to be tough tonight," Levon remarked quietly, hitting his stomach that was reminding him that it was lunch time. "Going to take all the nerve you've ever mustered to face her down, you know that."

"Yeah, I know that," Joey answered quietly standing naked next to the bed.

"Levon?" Joey groused shaking his head from side to side, "tell me why I've asked these men to live with me. Am I nuts? Do I miss my family that much? It should be just you and me -- you and me in some quiet mountain shack," Joey said reaching down to the bed for his underwear.

"You can't ask them to leave now, LaFiamma! They'd sooner you shot them dead then ask them to leave. They love you, man. Even if you never touch them again, never go to bed with them again -- they'd stay. That's how much they care for you. They're like me -- just want to be in range of that smile of yours. Just having your eyes on us -- stripping us clean -- anything else is frosting on the cake." Levon said pushing his hat to the back of his head.

"Frosting on the cake, huh?" Joey mused pulling his long sleeved black tee shirt over his head, followed by his sleeveless black tee shirt.

"Yer puttin' them here, 'cuz it makes you feel at home -- with people around -- brothers around. Interacting with them these last few weeks -- I'm finally beginning to understand why you miss your family. Like I said before, never had much family -- now I don't think I could get through a day without one of the dudes downstairs saying 'Hey Levon how you doing?'"

Joey smiled. His biggest fear was losing his partner as a lover and now that partner lover was telling him he liked the company of Joe's other lovers. Liked them as friends and as it was turning out, liked some of them as lovers too.

"Wonder what it would be like," LaFiamma began as he stepped into his heavy black cords, "if we all got naked and had one big orgy. Somewhere that no one would come barging in. Lay in the food and drinks, and just have sex!"

"Wouldn't work," Levon remarked, "you're too possessive of your lovers, Joe. When you want one. You want all of him." Levon watched his partner dress. When there was a knock at the door it was Levon who moved to it, and took Joe's holster and guns from Hummer who glanced in Joe's directions as he nodded to Levon.

"Thought these were never out of your hands," Lundy replied with a chuckle, walking up next to his partner.

Joe took the guns, laid them on the bed, and then pulled his partner to him, kissing him passionately. The kiss was so intense, Levon had to hit Joe's shoulder so the man would release him.

"You could'a warned me!" Levon groused gasping for air. "Now let's do it again, only this time let me take a breath first."

"Sorry -- I was in need of one," Joey replied putting on his best pout.

"Do you do this with your Marines too?" Levon asked shaking his head as he stepped back.

"Do what?" the Italian answered innocently.

"Pout! Put on a sorrowful face when you want something and they won't give it to you."

"Don't know. Guess you'll have to ask them. You see a black web belt around here anywhere? Thought I tossed it on the bed too."

"I know something I'd like to toss on the bed," Levon said with a grin.

"Have you seen this place we're going to be working in? What's it like?" LaFiamma asked changing the subject.

"What's it like?" Levon answered with a shrug. "It's got a door -- windows -- some offices. Looks like an abandoned store that nobody wanted and for taxes they gave it to the cops to use. It's being turned into a general bull pen like Major Crimes with a couple of three offices and a holding pen." Levon said walking back to his chair.

Easing himself back into the chair Levon asked, "What do you think is going to happen tonight?"

"Happen? You mean with Lucia? If Markus and I are lucky we can get in and out with Lu before the rest of the family gets there. If not -- we lose."

"Your family? How would they win?" The cowboy questioned confused that the Marines don't always win. "I thought the Marines always win."

"We try Levon, but we don't always win." Joey said with a smirk giving his partner a wide grin before continuing. "If the family is voting -- that means two things," Joey said returning to the closet to find his webbed belt. "One -- some members want her dead. Probably chopped up into little pieces that they can feed to the sharks down in the Gulf. Other members think killing is too easy. So they vote her in as a slave in some way. Or three."

Levon stared at his partner wondering why he didn't finish. "Or three...what? What is three?"

"I got a cousin who has private sex clubs. One in Chicago, one in New York, and one in Amsterdam. Very classy clients -- like Markus' clients. Markus runs a brothel in Washington D.C. A lot of foreign dignitaries have weird sexual hang-ups they like to enjoy when they are away from home. Markus caters to that. If we can get her out, Lu will be going back to D.C. with him. If Chicago wins -- God won't even be able to help her."

"If Chicago wins," Levon said thoughtfully, "maybe that will be God's revenge."

"And what will be God's revenge to us?" Joey shot back. " Man laying with man - how many times is that spoken against in the Bible?"

"You know I wrestle with that every day, LaFiamma," Levon growled bolting from his comfortable chair. "But God also hates fat guys who gorge themselves full of food until they can't walk -- adulterers, thieves, robbers, lairs. We're all at risk, man. We just got to do, what we got to do, and hope The Man upstairs understands why we're doing it."

A sharp knock at the door brought their conversation to a halt. Slipping into his holsters and adjusting his guns, Joe walked to the door and opened it.

"Damn, if you ain't one sexy dude, little brother!" Markus remarked his eyes growing wide as Joe stepped out of the room.

"That's why we love him," Levon replied quietly, "He's one hell'va sexy dude."

"Hawk ready?" Joey quizzed as Levon, Markus and Joe jogged down the stairs along the edge of the living room and into the kitchen.

"Wait a minute! He called you little brother. This guy is your brother?" Lundy asked surprised at the revelation.

"Hummer will explain, Levon. Don't have time right now." LaFiamma remarked looking to Hummer.

"What do you say Big Brother? Let's hit the road and meet that chopper."

[][][][][][][][][]

As soon as those in the kitchen heard the Limo gun its engine, Lundy and Shadow were on Hummer like bees to honey. "That guy's his brother? No way! Come on Hummer what did Joe tell you."

As Levon and Shadow came into his face Jake "Hummer" Hummerstein started backing up, until suddenly he fell backwards onto part of the sectional sofa.

"Okay, okay! How can I say anything if you're in my face? Back off, will ya?"

Jake pulled himself to a sitting position and watched the other two drape themselves over other furniture. "Markus is his oldest brother. The Major said Markus was in high school when Joe was born. He didn't even know Markus was his brother until he was about seven years old. He thought it was just another cousin coming for Sunday dinner. Joe started out by saying, 'I have' then corrected himself and said 'I had five brothers.' Markus was in the Foreign Service and now runs some high class government brothels for foreign dignitaries who come to the US to enjoy their sexual whims."

Anticipating the questions he saw coming, Jake added, "I don't know anything about any of the other brothers."

"Yeah, but I know who does or who can find out," Shadow exclaimed jumping to his feet. "Gerald! Gerald knows or can find out. It' something General Smith would do - research the man before capturing him."

"Well don't just sit there," Levon barked, "call the man!"

[][][][][][][][

Hawk sat quietly in the limo listening to Markus and Joe talk. It was obvious that Markus had no clue that Hawk understood every word. It wasn't until they were in sight of the chopper that Markus made a remark about Hawk's sexual prowess. The remark brought a deep red blush to Hawk's face.

Markus blinked awareness - wide-eyed at the blush, then turned to his brother. "You could have told me he knows Italian!'

"Didn't I say that?" Joey said in all innocennce. "Thought you knew all my Marines knew languages."

"Joseph Anthony! You haven't changed at all! You are still one sneaky little bastard!"

"Hey, you have to be in my family. Otherwise how you going to know anything? These chopper pilots - they yours, or military? Don't want Lu being warned that we're coming, you know."

"They are military. Hand picked by Father Julian and Admiral England. Don't worry they've got a story already laid out for why they have to land at an airport they're not scheduled for."

[][][][][[][][

"WE...LLL?" Levon Lundy growled as Hummer hung up the receiver and turned around.

"Well?" asked Shadow.

"A Well is a deep hole in the ground," Hummer replied not at all sure LaFiamma would like what he'd just been told, to be told to this group.

"I got ways I can find out!" Lundy said curtly heading for the door. "I ain't gonna love him any less."

"But you might love him differently if you knew he killed one of his brothers -- wouldn't you?" Hummer replied quietly, stopping the cowboy in his tracks. "Not all the nightmares LaFiamma has Levon, are from being in the Corps."

"How?" Levon asked turning a questioning face to Hummerstein who was a good head taller than the Texan.

"Biggest narcotic raid Chicago had that year - or I guess biggest to that date. Joe was on the squad that set up the meet. He was present when the buy went down. He froze when the main man - one of his own brothers stepped out of the darkness to congratulate his little brother on being a big-time cop. Gerald said the newspapers downplayed that fact that brother killed brother. It was more - young detective promoted for helping to mastermind biggest narc bust in cop history. And Gerald said it went hard for Joe both on the force and with his family. Half the cops were on payoffs - it's a wonder his brother wasn't tipped off. The honest cops on the force respected him more, but the dirty ones harped on him for shooting family."

"What ABOUT his family? What did they do?" Shadow asked.

"They told Joey he couldn't attend the funeral..." Hummer began.

"Which hurt him even more," Levon cut in.

"After the funeral - the family had a meeting."

"Oh shit," Lundy groused, "Joe's told me about those meeting. At least we know they didn't kill him."

"Well, Gerald said according to what Smith found out, the meeting was cut short when Joe's Aunt Teresa stood up and asked two questions."

"What two questions?"

"She asked the family - One -- What does Joey do for a living? Then two - what did Alberto do for a living? Then she said if Albert had to die isn't it better that he died at the hand of someone who loved him, rather than some two-bit cop on the take who would turn around and kill his mother if the price was right."

Hummer looked around at the group and figured that if he was this far in he might as well go the rest of the way. "Gerald read from a detailed report. Evidently Smith paid someone in the family handsomely to get this information. After Teresa said her piece, someone asked where Joey was. And as they talked about him, his family realized that no one had seen him since the shooting. The last time he was seen was getting into the coroner's wagon with his brother's body. In between phone calls of trying to track him down, the cemetery called to say they wanted to close but a member of the family was there and had been there all day. They wanted to know what to do."

Hummer stopped and watched his friends brush their hands past their eyes.

"Uncle Mikey went to the cemetery. Knowing the Major - he knew who it was soon as the car door closed. And knowing his family like he did, he braced himself for a hit. He knew he was odd man out."

"Oh god, I know what kind of torture he goes through when he's hurt," Levon said gulping back a lump in his throat. "To have killed his own brother - then wait for his favorite uncle to put a bullet in his head must have been the longest moment of his life."

"Only Markus knows what happened from that point on. Gerald said Markus was one man that couldn't be bribed, and we all know Smith had a lot to offer to a man in the Foreign Service of his country. Might be why his career was cut short, who knows. Anyway -- Markus parked behind Mikey's car and started to walk up to where Joey was kneeling in the snow. Uncle Mikey waved him back. The wave kept Joe's remaining brothers in their cars who for the first time saw how much Joe was suffering because of what happened. I guess Markus continued walking but stopped a distance behind the two. The report stops when Uncle Mikey touches Joe's shoulder, then kneels down next to him."

"I can tell you want LaFiamma said to his uncle," Shadow remarked quietly. "Something I heard him say during one of his worst nightmares. He said, 'Just shoot me. Do it here. Let me die with him, at least give me that. That's what the vote was, right? Kill the rebel, the odd man out. Just do it Uncle Mikey. Do it!'"

"And Uncle Mikey probably went to his knees to try to convince Joey that the vote was cancelled, they forgave him or something." Lundy offered. "Oh man, LaFiamma has suffered more than any man should and his life isn't even half over."

"So Markus is his brother, and one of his brothers is dead. What about the others?"

"Gerald only gave me the name of one other brother - Roberto."

"ROBERTO?" Lundy yelped jumping to his feet. "Joe said that's who the family is going to give Lucia to - to be a..a.."

"A prostitute, Levon. And she already is that. The law has never touched any of Roberto's establishments. Maybe they are linked with Markus'. One of Joe's other brothers is a lawyer... criminal justice, defense. The other one - no one knows about. Smith couldn't find out anything about him. Who he is or what he does. It's a mystery that plagued Smith for years Gerald said."

Hummer watched a smile work across Levon's face. "You know something you're not telling us Levon?"

"LaFiamma has given up a lot of days off to volunteer at Taylor Orphanage. He seeks out the kids who don't talk, are deaf, or slow. We stopped some deaf kids from being rousted one day, and he signed with them. He said he dated a deaf girl in college, but I think it was more than that. Maybe this brother is one of those. Maybe Joey is the only one who took the time to learn sign language. The more I learn about LaFiamma the more I am amazed at how innocent he seems to be."

"Oh let us tell you how innocent he can be?" Shadow yelped bounding out of his chair. "He had me, Hawk, and Jingles almost being dog meat for someone before we caught onto what he was doing. Damn we all thought we were going to be fried alive in the Amazon while he pouted and pretended that he was our captive and we were planning to eat him for breakfast. He's about as innocent as a cow in labor saying who did this to me."

[][][][][][][][][]

Hawk stared into Joey's face, watching the lopsided smile start then fade. He could feel Markus' eyes on him. He wanted to reach up and make sure his shirt was buttoned though he knew it was. Then the Major's eyes started to move down his body, down to his boots and up and again.

"Pull it out," Joey demanded quietly.

"Sir?" Harold "Hawk" Feldman gasped embarrassed by the demand wondering how his lover knew he was hard.

"You heard me Hawk. You've been staring at me for an hour, and I know what happens when you do that. Unzip and take it out."

"Yeah, open up. I might want a taste too," Markus replied with a grin.

Fear crossed Feldman's face. Even when LaFiamma was really pissed off at him, he was never shared.

"Sorry big brother, this one isn't for sharing." Joey said reaching across to push Hawk's hands out of the way and unzip the man's pants himself.

Hawk watched Markus' mouth open and close as his engorged cock was released.

"You can't possibly eat all of that?" Markus remarked as Joey went to his knees in front of his lover.

"He's not for sharing, brother! He knows I'd open that door and throw him out if he willingly allows himself to be taken by someone other than me."

"You can't be serious, Joey. Just a lick? He looks delicious man. I'm starving for that kind of a suck."

"He would, sir. Open the door and push me out. I've seen him strip a man naked and tie him upside down in a tree...in the middle of a compound...for everyone to see...with a sign painted on him that says this man is unfaithful don't touch. Believe me, Sir, if LaFiamma says he's going to do it - he will." Hawk reiterated, drawing in a deep breath as his cock was sucked into Joey's mouth.

A slow moan erupted from Hawk's throat. Over the loudspeaker one of the pilots asked if everything was okay back there.

"Come on, Joey," Markus whispered kneeling next to his little brother. "You take his mouth with one of your delicious kisses, let me have that....please."

Joey had shared some of his other lovers, but never Hawk. At the same time he knew the feeling behind the urgency in his brother's voice. He let the cock slip from his mouth and moved up to sit next to his man. Hawk's eyes shot open when an unfamiliar tongue began to lick him. When fingers opened his pants wider and pulled his balls out of his pants. He barely had time to blink before Joe began kissing him. Hawk jerked as Markus worked his balls pinching them, prodding them, and making them hard. Before he knew what was happening they were squashed on the floor between the two benches and he was coming hot and fast into the mouth of Joe's brother. Then LaFiamma held his gasping lover in his arms while his brother carefully replaced Hawk's genitals inside his pants, zipped up the zipper and moved back to his seat.

Once Markus was seated, Joe's only words were "He had a need that had to be satisfied."

Joe pushed the hair out of Hawk's eyes, wiped the sweat from his face. He wasn't sure from the expression on Hawk's face what the man's reaction was going to be.

Joe was blown away by Hawk's question. "Can you and Levon do it that way some time?"

LaFiamma stared into his exhausted man's face. At least he knew that Hawk remembered some of the loving the threesome did. "I'll talk to Levon about it. But not before you suck yourself in front of Markus....when we get back tonight."

"Joe - no man can do that! Give the guy a break."

"Hey, Big Brother - he's done it on more than one occasion. He can do it!"

Markus gave a disbelieving look to Feldman who responded with, "I can do it." Then Hawk looked at his lover with pleading eyes and said, "Not in the chair, sir. Please not it the chair. You know I can do it on the..."

"The chair is where the best of you comes out Hawk, you know that."

"Oh, shit," Hawk muttered as the trio were told they were about to land.

"On your toes, everyone," Joey said loudly, "the party is about to start."

The three disembarked the chopper and were met by a squad of Military Police. The Captain in charge informed the two LaFiamma's that several police were already stationed in and around the hospital Annex and that a transport wagon was on standby to take any who was to be arrested.

Major LaFiamma straightened his holsters, looked the man in the eye and said, "any man that is engaged in activity unbecoming an officer will be arrested. You better have a damn big wagon, Captain."

"Begging your pardon, Major, I don't think the hospital patients will like you walking in with..."

Joey touched his face. "Hawk!"

"Sir!" Came the answer as Hawk fished into one of his zipped pants pockets for the treated cloths that took their black makeup off.

"Where's the hospital from here, Captain?" Joey listened to the instructions, looked at his watch and calculated how long it would take to walk there. He refused the ride that was offered him, saying that he would walk.

Before the Captain could respond, Joey said, "I flew into Houston, and now I've been in a cramped chopper for almost two hours, I'll walk. This man's a government agent, take him...my man and I will met you there."

"Joey!" Markus yelped. Throwing up his hands he gave a distressed looked to the equally confused Captain. "I hate it when he's like this."

[][][][][][][][]

"Major?" Hawk finally said when they were beyond the flight line and entering the main area of the base.

"I have to walk it out Hawk. Or I'll kill her when I see her. I just have to walk. Keep anyone we know at a distance. And if you see a fat little man on a golf cart wave him down." Joey said breaking in a jog.

// A fat little man on a golf cart?// Then Hawk saw him - the fat little man on the golf cart. He didn't have to wave him down he was driving straight for LaFiamma who sidestepped just before the cart hit him.

"You missed again, old man," Joey laughed as he reached out to shake the man's hand then pull him in for a hug. "How about a ride to the hospital? Think you can beat the Captain of your guards?"

"Hell, yes...heard you might be coming. Lot of people know the history you and Lucia had. Her party probably has already started but I know that wouldn't keep you from going in, will it?"

"Never has, has it?"

"This guy one of your goons?" The man asked motioning Hawk into the rear seat.

"Goons - hell, no, this is one of my lovers!" Joey replied jokingly as he swung his frame onto the seat next to the fat man.

"You one of his lovers?" The man questioned as the cart started to roll.

"SIR?" Hawk squawked.

"LaFiamma, you are such a lair!" The man said with a chuckle. "Now if he was a woman...then I'd know you were telling the truth. But a man - you ain't the type."

"Herm, let us off before we get there...want the Captain of the guard's men to think we jogged the whole way. You doing okay? Family okay?"

"Family is doing fine, Joe. Got some pictures here - you got time?" Joey nodded yes, and watched his old friend who had been injured in basic training years ago take out a wad of pictures. He recognized himself in two of the boys, as he should because he was the biological father. Hermano and Joyce had had one boy already when he was hurt but they wanted more. So twice on visits to San Antonio Joey had volunteered semen to be implanted into Joyce so they could have more sons. Joe stared at the boys. Boys he could never acknowledge.

As if reading LaFiamma's thoughts, Hermano said, "We told Joseph and Anthony this year who their biological father was. They figured out long ago that I wasn't rugged enough or handsome enough to be their real dad. Don't be surprised if they knock on your door one day. "

Joe stepped out of the cart and saw the look on Hawk's face at the revelation that had just been revealed. Before LaFiamma could say anything, Hermano continued, "Joey - you're the best friend I've ever had. Most everyone took off after the accident that paralyzed me - but not you. Not you, Joey! God, you gave me so much. Not only your love, but beautiful sons too."

Hawk was surprised when Joey softly began speaking Italian to the man. He was even more surprised to learn that this man was one of Joe's brothers.

"I live in a big house, Herm, with lots of room... a guest house that can be added onto -- if your family ever has to leave here, don't hesitate to call me. I mean it, bro. "

"Might just take you up on that offer, little brother. Since Joyce isn't sure she wants to re-enlist, and we're both banished from Chicago, I might just come to Houston and we can start our own LaFiamma dynasty."

"You have to know this," Joey began glancing at his watch, "and you have to tell Joyce this too - this man IS my lover - one of my lovers! I have five. Four are Marines, one's a cop...my detective partner. "

Joe's brother was silent for several seconds before looking at Hawk and asking, "Does he satisfy you - or- use you to satisfy himself?"

Hawk swallowed and looked to his C.O. for help, all Joe offered him was a slight smile. "His satisfaction...is satisfying me. Sir."

"And does he do the same for the others?"

"Major?" Hawk squawked. This was not the kind of interrogation he was use to or wanted to endure.

Joe merely gave him a nod.

"A couple are satisfied just to be in his presence. Going to bed with him is just an added bonus. Sam - Sam has an expertise that can't be denied. He satisfies himself and the Major at the same time. And he's the only one who CAN satisfy the Major with what he does."

"Sam the cocksucker...I've heard of him. Heard he's good. And he's in your house, how'd you manage that?" Joey's brother asked shaking his head.

A smile crossed Hermano's face. "You always were the strong one Joseph. You were the youngest, yet you were the strongest. You gave more love than the rest of the family put together. Nobody in the family's probably told you that if Alberto was taken down, they prayed it would be you. Someone who loved him, not some cheap cop on the take. You've been carrying the burden of his death for too long Joseph. He was a crook. He was making millions off the drugs he was selling. He threatened you with a gun and you fired. It was self-defense. The family knows that. The Chicago cops know that. The only one who doesn't know that is Joey LaFiamma."

LaFiamma stood frozen where he stood. Hawk saw the look that came over his face when his brother mentioned Alberto. Hawk remembered nightmares Joe had when they were on patrol. Something that had triggered a memory. Shadow would hold Joe and would merely say 'it's from before the Marines.' It must be this, Hawk thought, seeing his own brother go down at his hand.

"Major!" Hawk said sharply, "we need to go. We need to go now!"

"Huh?" Joey mumbled, looking at his man. "Yes sir, Hawkman!" LaFiamma answered sharply, as he left his nightmare where it should have been left long ago.

"And Hair-mon-no! You ARE going to let me know when you're coming. Guest house has two bedrooms. Even got a mother-in-law apartment, and I've got the money to add bedrooms to the house if that's what you want."

"I'll talk to Joyce and let you know. I don't want to jeopardize your relationship with Aunt Teresa. You've always been her fair-haired boy.... Take care, little brother - you are definitely as close to Superman as a man ever was."

"Don't worry about Aunt Teresa. I have something she desperately wants and in order to get it -- she is going to have to release you from bondage."

"Joey- don't take her on! Listen..." Hermano began sharp concern etched in his voice.

Joey held up his hand. "Hey, Big Brother, if she wanted me killed she would have done it years ago. She kept the family from digging a trench for me when Alberto went down. And if the family had checked with the Coroner's Office they would have known that my gun didn't fire the fatal shot. But crooked cops told her I was the one and no one questioned it. She kept me alive when the hottest feuds were going in Chicago. Believe me, what I have now - she will agree to let you go. You may not be able to go back to Chicago - but hey, it would be great to have a brother around again."

Joey took Hermano's hands in his, and they just stared into each other's eyes. Then Joe let go, and nodding to Hawk they broke into a jog. Just as they reached the bottom of the hill and the main entrance to the hospital, they saw the military police car come up on their left.

"Bet they're going to wonder how we got here so fast," Hawk chuckled gleefully.

"And we ain't going to tell them - are we, lover?"

"No sir, we ain't going to tell them."

[][][][][][][][]

A group of armed police and black-suited Godfather lookalikes walked in the small Annex of the main base hospital.

Joey stepped to the front of the group and asked a wide-eyed young woman where he could find Lucia.

"Oh sir, you're too late, she's already started." Came the reply.

Joey leaned forward putting one hand on the counter. "Unless you never want to see your family again - you will tell me where she is."

"Sir, I can tell you, but she won't let you in. It's a private party."

Joey pulled his left hand out of his pocket, held it up, and pointed to the gold band on his third finger. A ring he had put on as they walked into the Annex. "She damn-well better see me," Joe said angrily pointing the ring on his finger, "or I'll know the reason why."

"Yer...her..ha.ha.ha.husband?"

"Book her!" Joey yelped, suddenly remembering where there was a room big enough to have that kind of a party. "I know where it is, let's go."

Two by two, among stares of staff and patients alike, Joey walked down the main corridor took a right then a left then a right and stopped. He asked the Captain of the Guard to check two rooms. In both were found men in various degrees of dress. Most were standing in their underwear talking about what they were missing out on. Each one was astonished to find they were being arrested and taken away as they were.

Joey looked at Hawk and Markus, "You guys ready? Let's go!'

The man on the door came to attention as Joey approached. He swallowed hard as Markus and a couple of MP's came into view.

"Open up!" Joe demanded.

"Sir...you're too late. She's already started."

"Do you have a family, Marine?"

"Yes, sir."

"Wife - kids?"

"Wife, no kids yet."

"Well, son, you're about to be arrested, and I doubt you'll see that wife for a very long time. Take him!" Joey barked, with a slight nod to Hawk, and a swift kick of Hawk's boot the double doors flew open.

Three long strides and Major Joseph Anthony LaFiamma was into the middle of the room staring daggers into Lucia astonished face. Joe didn't look or even acknowledge the man whose cock was up her ass, nor the man who was getting ready to penetrate through the front.

"This the way you're spending our honeymoon, eh, babe?" Joey said tightly, his teeth clenching tighter and tighter.

"Honeymoon?" Coughed Rodney Littlefield, the naked man who faced Lucia. "Joey....? You're the Marine she married?"

"Thanks for the invite, Rod. I never would have known my wife was unfaithful if I hadn't gotten it in writing," Joey growled stepping closer, his left hand reaching out. With one quick punch, Joe hit the man behind Lu in the shoulder and sent him sprawling backwards onto the carpeted floor.

"Tell me babe..., if you've had your motor taken out -- how can you be pregnant with that baby of mine? Which one of these docs here were going to write up an excuse for a miscarriage? How many miscarriages were you going to have?"

"Look, Joe..., if I'd known you were the...." Rod started.

'SILENCE!" LaFiamma shouted with such force that Hawk and Markus backed up a step and looked at each other, each hoping the other could give some explanation.

A half smile started to cross LaFiamma's face. Nodding to his former lover and wife, Joey remarked quietly, "You know - the invitation to this party of yours processed the fastest annulment in the history of the Catholic Church. It didn't even have to go through a committee. It was passed from Father Mullen to a Cardinal who signed it."

Joey raised his left hand, and dramatically pulled off the gold band on his left finger. "Markus! The paper!" Joey said curtly, extending his right hand out. The room was spellbound as Joe unfolded the document, read it, rolled it up and slipped it through the gold band.

"So, my love," Joey replied, bending forward a bit to slip the document and ring down inside her black lace teddy, "looks like you're free again."

Straightening, LaFiamma's eyes slowly scanned the room. "Some of you I know, some of you I don't. I have to say I'm really appalled that Marine and Air Force officers would stoop this low. If any of you have a wife, or kids -- I hope Lucia was worth it - because you aren't going to be seeing them for a very long time."

"Hey wait a minute, LaFiamma?" Rod barked. "You can't arrest us for having a little fun?"

"I believe, Captain," a voice behind Joe replied, "the Major means this is truly behavior unbecoming an officer."

Hawk didn't have to turn he knew the voice instantly. Markus did a half turn and watched Admiral English walk into the room followed by Teresa LaFiamma and his brother Roberto.

Stepping up behind Joey, Markus growled softly, "Damn Joey, you stalled. Why? Why?"

"Because I want something far more valuable. And Teresa is the only one with the key."

Joe stood silently looking at his lost lover. Lucia's eyes were wide, her head twisting one way and then the other as MP's filled the room arresting Rodney and the other men standing in the outer circle.

Admiral English came up to Joe, touched his shoulder, and said, 'It's over, son, you can relax."

"Afraid its not quite over yet, Admiral. My family and I have something to finish here," Joe answered breaking his stance, turning to look at the Admiral put Joe directly into Hawk's face.

Leaning towards Hawk's ear, Joe said in a barely audible whisper. "When everyone is out, close the door, stand on the inside. I want a witness here."

"Yes sir!" Feldman answered sharply, coming to attention and saluting, then with a sharp heel-top turn he walked to the door he'd kicked in a few minutes before.

"Admiral, I have to ask your indulgence here - and leave these three," Joey said gesturing to Teresa, Roberto and Markus, "with me and Lucia."

Admiral English looked at LaFiamma for several seconds than at Teresa who gave him a slight nod. "Okay, Joe. When your Marine opens the door, we'll come in and pick up the pieces."

The door was barely closed before Markus attacked his little brother. "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING! WE COULD HAVE BEEN HERE AND GONE! ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS HAND HER THE PAPER, HAVE ME TAKE HER AND WE...."

"Because Markus, I want a prize far more valuable than this whore." Joe answered quietly.

"WHORE? Who you calling a whore?" Lucia blasted angrily suddenly aware her life might be on the line here.

Joey's reaction was faster than he even expected it to be. He spun on his heel and slapped her hard across the side of her face. "YOU DON'T EXIST WOMAN! YOU WERE DISCHARGED TWO WEEKS AGO! YOU LEFT FOR PARTS UNKNOWN - IT SAYS SO ON YOUR SIGN OUT SHEET. WHERE YOU'RE GOIN' THOUGH, YOU'LL BE ABLE TO PRACTICE YOUR TRADE EVERY DAY...WON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT A HUSBAND WALKING IN. YOU MIGHT EVEN GET SOME OLD CLIENTS ONCE THEY FIND OUT WHERE YOU ARE. COURSE THIS TIME THEY WILL HAVE TO PAY UP FRONT AND HAVE AN AIDS TEST!!"

The outburst brought Hawk off the door, a movement that alerted Teresa and Roberto that there was someone other than family present.

"Back off Feldman, I'm not going to break her neck yet." Joey replied with a wave, a gesture that put Hawk back on guard duty at the door.

"I believe your Marine needs to leave the room also, Joey," Aunt Teresa said evenly.

"No ma'am. He stays," LaFiamma answered looking at his aunt for the first time. "He is present for two reasons. One, to keep me from killing this whore. Two, as an outside witness for what is about to go down here. Harold "Hawk" Feldman is one of my most trusted Marines. He is vowed to silence, as is every Marine that does a mission with me. Even if his life depended on it, he could not say a word about what has happened since we landed. He knows the rules. I can officially take him out and shoot him -- if he says anything about anything we have done, said or seen, since we landed. He stays."

// Shot? He can shoot me for talking about this? Shit, Major, why didn't you tell that before we started. The guys are going to be all over me wanting to know what went down here. //

"Joseph, there is nothing to discuss. Markus lost. Roberto has won. She goes to New York," Teresa LaFiamma remarked coldly, walking to where Lucia still stood.

"You, my dear, are a disappointment," Teresa said, taking the annulment papers out of the warm nest Joey had placed them in. "Mrs. English and I were planning your wedding celebration when word came about your hysterectomy. I'm not so sure I should have voted against you being killed and fed piece by piece to the sharks."

Hawk watched the horrified look come over Lucia's face as Teresa touched her. Feldman had never seen his C.O. act with such vengeance toward a woman before. It was the complete opposite of tender touch and voice he'd always seen before.

"Nobody has this woman yet," Joey started.

"Joey...she's not worth it... leave it.." Markus cut it.

"What I want has nothing to do with HER! Yet is does because she is the only bargaining chip I have. My love for her died the minute I saw that medical paper that said she wasn't carrying my child or ever would be able to. For all I care, you can dump her out of the plane into the Atlantic Ocean on her flight to Amsterdam.'

Joey turned and signed to his Marine, "Have your weapon ready, should you need to defend yourself or me."

"No, what I want is restitution - reinstatement. I have asked Hermano and his family to come to Houston to live, and I don't want any problems from Chicago or anywhere else."

"Joey!" Roberto exclaimed, "you're asking too much."

"TOO MUCH!" Joey shrieked. "I took the fall for Alberto's death and my bullet didn't even kill him!"

Joey heard the sharp intake of breath that his Aunt took with that statement. "I wasn't carrying my police special that day. I had a totally different weapon on me. My bullet hit him in the left shoulder and put him down. The last thing I wanted to do was kill him! It was the dirty cops that Victorio was paying off that moved in and killed him. All the family had to do was call the Coroner's office or check with a few honest cops to find out where my slug went. But no - the word of dirty cops was more trusted than the word of honest little Joey LaFiamma. That's the day I knew I should have stayed in the Marine Corps, even though the situation in the Corps wasn't good, it was better than not having your family believe you."

"I've started a new life in Texas and so has Hermano. His wife is terrific and he has three sons. Three really great boys...I know they're terrific... because I fathered two of them."

"What?" Aunt Teresa gasped, looking with renewed interest at her favorite nephew.

"Joyce was already pregnant when Harm had the accident that paralyzed him. On one of my stopovers here, they asked if I would donate sperm for another son, and I did. In fact I did it on another stopover too. I'm not part of the Chicago family and haven't been for a long time, though I know you're my family like it or not. I have a feeling if all the facts were known about Harmano....." LaFiamma stopped in mid-sentence, his brothers were startled at what he was saying and even more surprised at the look that came over his face.

Joe said something in Italian that made Hawk laugh. Roberto turned to look at the Marine and Markus replied, "Believe me, I found out the hard way that that guy understands and speaks Italian."

"Aunt Teresa, I love you. No matter what goes down nothing will change the fact that I love you. You were a second mother to me when my own mother died. You and Uncle Mikey have always done what you thought was best," Joe said with a smile. "But now, Texas is my territory, and I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to take your baggage and leave."

"She will make money, Joseph. Where do you want it sent?" Joe's Aunt Teresa replied quietly.

"Taylor Orphanage - you know the address."

"You can tell Hermano he's free to go anywhere."

"No, ma'am," Joey replied looking his Aunt directly in the eye, "you - will tell him."

"Yes - I will," she replied, pulling her surprised nephew in for a hug. "Sometimes Joey - it takes the courage of the youngest to stand up and make the old ones see the light."

[][][][][][][][][]

Joey skipped the revolving door and headed for the small side door. Stepping out into the fresh air he took a deep breath. The night air felt good, especially since he figured he wouldn't be breathing at all by now.

"Major?" Hawk asked, bringing Joe back to the world. "Can you really shoot me if I tell anyone about this?"

"Absolutely. Didn't you know that?" Joe answered reaching up to playfully slap Hawk on the cheek.

"No! I don't think any of us know that. I mean, we know we can't talk about it. But we don't know that we can be killed for talking about it."

"Well, Hawk, let's see if we can catch a ride back to that chopper," Joey said walking out to where a line of MP cars were parked.

Behind them came a young Military Police officer, "Major LaFiamma! Major wait!"

Joe stopped and listened to what the young man had to say, totally disbelieving the statement about Aunt Teresa wishing to see "man who wants to move to Houston" personally.

"She can't say his name, but she wants to see him? Looks like she gets the last laugh after all. Damn!"

Joe's eyes were on Hawk when Lucia was ushered through the hospital doors to a waiting limousine, wearing a black velvet cape over her next-to-nothing lace.

She stopped abruptly, placing her hand on the top of the car to keep herself from being forced in.

"Just a minute here! We own a house together! What makes you think I'm going to sign my half over to you." Lu screamed at Joey.

Joey turned from the feast his eyes were enjoying and looked at her. "House? What house?" He asked innocently.

"I signed papers! You took the keys!"

"Did you read the papers you signed?"

"Of course!"

"What did they say?"

"Say?"

"Yes, say? If you read them before you signed them you must remember what they said. Gerald asked you if you agreed to what was written."

She stared at him. She didn't remember what they said. In fact she hadn't even read them. They had walked through the house and Joe was making notes and checking off things on a sheet of paper. Then they sat at a table and she was asked to sign two papers that the realtor witnessed and Joe was handed a set of keys.

"You didn't read them, did you? You should have Babe... you should have. I bought and paid for the house the day I looked at it. The day we met at the house was to check over the conditions of the sale that I asked to have repaired before I would accept the keys to the place. The papers you signed ---," Joey stopped, paused and looked at her trying to figure out if she ever had loved him, "the papers you signed were pre-nuptial agreements, stating you would not lay claim to anything I owned should we ever separate. You should'a read 'em, babe."

Roberto slapped her on the buttocks and told her to get in the car.

"Bobbie," Joey called, halting his brother from following her into the car. "She's most seductive with long hair cascading down over her shoulders, her breasts ... with next to nothing on the bottom. That's how I fell for her. And Bobbie - I don't want to know what happens to her. As far as I'm concerned - she's dead."

[][][][][][][]

Lucia adjusted herself in the back seat next to Joey's brother. Her air of confidence was beginning to come back but it would soon be flattened.

"So, I'm going to Amsterdam. Always loved that city. Some of the best brothels in the world are there," Lu said with an air of elegance.

"Eventually," Roberto replied quietly, turning in his seat to look at her. "I hope you are a good as I've heard you are."

"I'm better!" she answered turning to meet his glare.

"We will see -- if you survive two months of servicing the LaFiamma men in Chicago, and maybe even some of the women ... then you will be moved to New York where Markus' clients are already booking time with you. Then you will be in Amsterdam for the rest of your natural life. So, I hope you are as good as I've been told you are."

"LaFiamma men?" Lu squeaked, "what do you mean service LaFiamma men?"

"Joey ever tell you how many LaFiamma men there are? Probably not," Roberto said putting a hand between her legs. "Hmm, you're a wet little sex kitten aren't you. Just talking about it has made you hot."

Try as she might, Roberto's hand only made her sexual juices run heavier.

Roberto pulled his fingers out and licked Lu's juices off them. Reaching for the phone in front of him he pick up the receiver, dialed three numbers and said a few short words in Italian. Words Lucia did not understand.

"Our plane is being refueled, and you will meet the first of the LaFiamma men onboard. They flew down with Teresa and I. We will not be waiting for Teresa, Admiral English will see that she gets back to Chicago. So in about thirty minutes, we will see how good the girl that dishonored Joey LaFiamma and tried to con his family really is."

Lucia swallowed hard and stared as Roberto unzipped his pants and pulled out the biggest hard-on she'd ever seen.

"Eat it!"

"I don't eat cocks! Fucking me is the only way you will get relief with me."

Roberto grabbed a fistful of hair and brought her face to within inches of his nose. "It ain't your rules anymore more whore! You will suck when asked to suck. If they want ass you will give them ass! If not -- we cut off your fingers first, then your toes, then start feeding pieces of you to the sharks. That's our way babe!"

Tears started rolling down Lucia's cheeks. She couldn't stop them. "I don't know how... I've never done it... no one's ever wanted me for that."

Roberto shoved her backwards and stared. "You're serious, aren't you?" Roberto asked in disbelief. "Joey didn't ever ask you to..."

"Joey had Sam... No one could out do Sam, he was the best cocksucker in the Marine Corps. Even when Joey and I were together, if Joey wanted his cock sucked off he would hunt up Sam and Sam would be more than happy to do it. I've never ever even had one in my mouth." Lu responded fearing that her life now would be relatively short.

Roberto reached for the telephone, dialed the plane's number and got into a rapid-fire discussion. Lu picked up some of the words but Roberto was talking too fast for her to understand all of them.

"Well the board isn't happy. But on your flight to Chicago you are going to have some cocksucking lessons. Lessons you'd better learn well if you want to survive. And we're going to start with this one." Bobbie said pointing to the penis that lay in his lap.

[][][][][][]

"Aunt Teresa, you sure you want to do this," Joey asked as the car stopped in front of Joyce and Hermano base housing unit.

"Joseph, have you ever seen the sons you fathered?"

"No."

"Then I think this is a first for all of us, don't you. Something that should have been done long ago. "

Inside the house Joseph Hermano LaFiamma was sitting by the front window working on homework when he heard a car door slam. Looking up he stared at the man dressed in black with guns under each arm, but mostly stared as the man pushed an unruly piece of hair out of his eyes, just as he did the same thing.

"DAD! DAD! He's here! He's here!" J.H. shouted sprinting off his perch and heading for the kitchen. "He's here - the man, your brother who you said is our father. He's here with a big Italian woman whose wearing a hat."

Hermano and Joyce, and their other two sons Roman and Tony looked at each other and barely had time for a comment when the doorbell was ringing. Then Herm heard Joey's voice call from the living room, "HARM! JOYCE! Anybody home? You need better security, bro?"

Hawk watched the family emerge from the kitchen. He knew they were as scared as Joe was at the confrontation that was about to take place, and they didn't even know about Aunt Teresa yet.

It was Joyce who broke the ranks first coming across the living room to be picked up and hugged by Joe. "Herm tell you about my offer?" Joey asked setting her feet back down on the floor.

"Offer?"

"To move to Houston. We're in real need of nurses there."

"Oh Joey... I wish we could. You know why we're here. Its bad enough his family ostracized him for some ridiculous thing - then when he fell and was paralyzed - no one even showed remorse. In fact we got funeral flowers from some. SHE's even stopped my parents from coming!"

"Hawk." Joe said quietly, stepping back as Hawk moved to open the screen door to allow Teresa Angela Maria LaFiamma in.

"Oh god, Joey what have you done!" Hermano exclaimed, as his boys backed up behind their father's wheelchair.

"Joseph has done something that we all should have done long ago. He stood up for himself and the people he loves regardless of the consequences. I am sure I have made many mistakes in my life. Tonight Joey pointed out two that were made that had dire consequences. Joseph asked me to call you - but since I was on the base I asked him to bring me here. Do not blame him for my presence here, he tried to talk me out of it but as you know when my mind is set nothing moves it."

Joey watched Aunt Teresa's face softened. She had not seen his brother is twenty years or more, what she saw before her was not the strapping young man she remembered. What she saw was a balding man in his late forties sitting in a motorized chair, behind him stood three teenage boys, two of which looked exactly like Joey the day his mother died.

The boys watched Joey, a man who looked as if he had just stepped out of a war zone, move swiftly to his Aunt's side. "Aunt Teresa, you all right? I told you this wasn't a good idea."

"On the contrary this is probably the only good idea I've had in recent years. I know forgiveness is a hard thing to ask for. But I hope that some day you will find that you can forgive an old lady who thought she was following the right tradition when she did what she did. I will ask the council on my return to Chicago to lift any travel bands they have on you and your family. I wasn't aware her parents had been barred from seeing you. I will see that that is lifted also."

Teresa took the chair Joyce offered her. "What shook me - is your middle son behind you." Teresa said reaching for her purse. The room was quiet as the LaFiamma matriarch went through several things in her large leather bag before finding what she wanted. When she did, she handed it to Joey. "This was taken the day of your mother's funeral."

"Ss--shit!" Joey muttered as he looked at the picture, then up at the boy, then back at the picture. He walked to his brother and handed him the photo just as Admiral English appeared at the door with a cell phone call for LaFiamma.

Joey moved through the front door to the porch as he talked, snapping his fingers and ordering Hawk to get Hummer on their phone. Teresa watched all three boys move to the front window as Joey began to have an active conversation with the person who called first.

The teenagers leaned close to the window finally breaking down to open it slightly so they could hear more of the conversation.

"R.G. slow down. How many unfriendlies are there? No they probably came when their colonel never reported back in...something we didn't anticipate. When did they cut off your power? Is the power to the Smith house still on? Hold on, Hawk is getting Hummer on the phone. Do you have the laser field up in the barn? Illuminate it so they know what they're up against. Put all the keypads on zero. What about the control room? Shouldn't that automatically go into auxiliary power? Okay, pull up the perimeter screens, check them closely, they should tell you how many are there and how they're getting in. You guys are going to have to take care of this... It will take Hawk and I two hours to get back." Joey stopped talking only long enough to ask Admiral English how to put his call into a conference call.

"Okay, I'm hooking you up with Hummer. You're barely a squad but you're going to have to work this out. What about the prisoner, where is he? Okay R.G., turn on the lights in Smith's house, bolt all the doors except the one by the pool. Swing that open. Get as many as you can into the house and neutralize the rest. Have Gerald call Quanto and if anyone is in the air that could help. This place has to be clean and operational in two weeks. After that I'm back on duty as a cop and you and Gerald are in charge. So do it!"

Joe spun on his heel and handed the phone back to the Admiral telling him he needed a ride to the flight line and that chopper that delivered them better be fueled and ready. The Admiral said he had some Rangers who were getting bored that might be able to help. Joe gave him a thumbs up.

Joey stepped back inside the house but before he could say a word the two boys chirped up in unison, "Are you our dad?"

The question took Joe's breath away, yet his answer came quickly. "No, this is your Dad," Joey said pointing to his brother. "I fathered you, but he is your Dad."

Looking at the rest of the group, LaFiamma said, "I have to return to Houston ASAP. Here's the number I want you to call when you've made your decision to come. We can redo the Guesthouse or you can live elsewhere. But I won't take no for an answer this time, Harm."

"How about we come in a week or two and look the place over," Joyce said with a smile. "Can't be any worse than here."

"Well, I'll tell you right now -- it will be overrun with Marines and cops most of the time, but that's who's family now. Gotta go." Joe started back for the door and stopped. "Didn't you say they were going to sports camp in Galveston? Call that number and tell me when."

Herm's son Tony replied, "We leave in the morning?"

"You're Anthony, Right? Uhhuh... and you're Joseph." Joey looked at him then to Aunt Teresa and back to the boy. "Damn, I didn't know I was that good looking when I was a kid!" On that note as the room broke out into laughter Joe and his Marine departed.

Joyce ran to the porch and called, "They aren't allowed visitors, Joey!"

LaFiamma turned, pointed a finger at her and said, "Joyce, there isn't any place the Marines can't go!"


	10. The Chicago Package

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joe reads the Chicago package and learns that some of his Marines are being held prisoner in a brothel.

**CHICAGO PACKAGE  
By Etch**

LaFiamma was silent on the flight back to Houston. He'd left his brother Markus on the flight line waiting for his plane that already had Lance Baker onboard. The brothers had hugged, said a few words and departed. Joey conversed with the Colonel in command of the Rangers and they both agreed it would be a waste for the Rangers to go. However the Colonel knew some Navy S.E.A.L.S who were in Houston for a reunion who probably would be glad to help, Joe gave the Colonel Hummer's phone number.

Sergeant Harold "Hawk" Feldman positioned opposite LaFiamma as he was for the flight over intently watched his commanding officer. He'd seen LaFiamma under fire and up against insurmountable odds. But he'd never seen him in a situation that pitted the man against his own family. Who was this woman LaFiamma called Aunt Teresa anyway, Hawk thought.

Joey sat with his eyes closed, his head back against the hard metal wall of the helicopter. Not one muscle twisted to even indicate that he was alive. "You want to know why I didn't put up more of a fight to keep Roberto from taking her, don't you?" LaFiamma said breaking the silence between them.

"Yes sir," Hawk replied, gulping back unasked questions caught in his throat.

"Aunt Teresa helped raise me after my father died ... and after my mother died. She's the matriarch of a mob family, Hawk. I've seen her cast the deciding vote on family affairs that have cost people their lives -- and she's saved some from losing their lives. With the nod of her head Roberto could have killed everyone in that room before you ever had a chance to draw your weapon. Lucia's lies will cost every officer there their career and probably their marriages. She's not worth seventeen people dying."

After a few minutes of silence, Joey muttered quietly, "Damn, I loved her. I really loved her."

00ooo00

Joe got the chopper pilot to do a low hover over Smith's property before going to an open field near his property. The hover was just what the Marines needed to distract and confuse the unfriendlies that hadn't already been captured. With extra help from the SEALS all were transported to a waiting immigration van.

Joe thanked the chopper pilots for the ride and he and Hawk hiked the half-mile back to Joe's house. The two arrived just as Hummer and Shadow were stripping off their gear and getting ready to relax. They started to greet the Major, but Hawk waved them off. The two Marines watched Joey take the stairs two at a time up to the bedrooms. The house shook, as he slammed the double doors to his master suite shut.

"What the hell happened?" Hummer quizzed cornering Hawk in the kitchen.

"Come on, you can tell us!" Shadow pleaded, his eyes gazing upwards as though he was watching Joe through the ceiling.

"I can't tell you! I can't! Did you know he has the authority to kill any of us on the spot if we so much as say one word about any mission we've been on? Did you?" Hawk gasped, pushing open his bedroom door so he could begin to undress.

"This was a mission, man. And I hope to god I never ever have to go through what went down tonight ever again." Hawks reiterated stripping off his jacket, then his shirt.

"Did he say ANYTHING on the way home?" Shadow asked, glancing upwards as noise from LaFiamma's bedroom carried down into the kitchen.

"Yeah, he said ... quote, 'Damn, I loved her. I loved her so much,' unquote." Hawk replied shaking his head. "You think we should go up and see what's happening? Sounds like he's taking the place apart."

"What can we do?" Shadow gruffed, also glancing upwards. "He could order us to stand on your heads, and we'd have to do it. Lundy's the only one...the only one...who's going to call him?"

Hawk walked to the wall phone, ran his finger down a list of numbers until he came to Lundy's, then dialed the number. Levon picked it up on the first ring. Hawk explained what was going down and Levon said he was on his way.

No one seemed to notice that the crashing sounds had stopped overhead, or that LaFiamma was now standing tight against the wall with a pistol in his hand. Joe knew his Marines. Knew Shadow could push until Hawk might break. He didn't want them to know about his sons yet. Not yet.

"Come on, Hawk, tell us something!" Hummer pleaded coming up behind his friend as Hawk hung up the phone. "What happened to Lucia? Did you meet more of his family? What?"

"I CAN'T TELL YOU!" Hawk screamed turning fast, almost knocking Hummer to the ground, and seeing LaFiamma for the first time. First Feldman saw the look on his C.O.'s face. Then he saw the gun Joe was holding.

"Don't you turkeys understand! The Major has the authority to kill me if I say anything about his brothers or Aunt..." Hawk shouted wildly, his eyes glued to the gun that Joe held to his side that now moved upward in his direction.

***C-L-I-C-K!!!***

Sam and Hummer automatically reached for guns they weren't carrying, whirling to meet the man that threatened them from behind.

"Major?" The two chirped in disbelief.

"Another word Feldman and you'll be in front of that firing squad I told you about." LaFiamma groused roughly walking from where he stood to the middle of the kitchen.

Levon roared to a stop and barreled out of the Jimmy heading for the kitchen door. He figured it would be unlocked so he just walked in ... straight into the barrel of LaFiamma's gun.

"LaFiamma? What the hell you doing?" Levon squawked in stark surprise.

"Back off Lundy! This isn't your business." Joey growled his eyes on Hawk.

"Yeah, well I'm making my business. Shit man, what happened in San Ann-tone?"

"Every man that goes on a mission with me knows that it can't be discussed EVER! And if Hawk says one more word I will personally deliver him to that firing squad." Joey replied sarcastically dropping the pistol back to his side.

"In case you two brain deadbeats don't remember the rules," Joey growled into Hummer and Shadow's faces, "I suggest you pull out your code book and see just what exactly goes down if you disobey the rules. Now go up to your rooms and don't come out until noon. GO!"

Joey waited until they left before turning his attention to Hawk.

"Joe? You said you were going to read the Chicago Package when you got back." Levon said trying to divert his partner's attention away from Hawk.

"Did I?" Joey remarked his tone softer. Trying hard to swallow his anger LaFiamma turned his eyes back to Hawk. "In your bedroom - strip to your shorts and wait for me."

"Yes Sir!" Hawk answered literally jumping as the phone next to his shoulder began ringing.

Reaching around his Marine, nodding for him to leave, Joe answered the phone.

"Bobbie? What's the trouble, you tired of her already?" Joey blinked as his older brother began telling him the things that Lucia said she couldn't do.

LaFiamma burst out laughing. It was just the tension breaker he needed. "Let me tell you big brother, that little whore can do it ways you and I never thought of. She can swallow your double dangle in one gulp. She can do a 69, a 99, a twist, or handle two at a time! Sex toys make her wild and the shorter her hair the wilder she is."

Joey listened, his conversation going from English to Italian and back again. "Roberto -- you still have that place up in Wisconsin with that double fish pool? No, the one that makes it appear that you're swimming among the sharks. Take her swimming, big brother. She hates water except in the shower -- give her a demonstration if you have to."

LaFiamma laughed as his brother said he was having trouble with someone but didn't want to eliminate him in the usual way. "As I said, Bobbie, you'll be surprised at what she can do if she realizes she has no way out. She's played all of us for suckers, and she's still doing it. Yeah, spiked would be good. Pink or purple tips if I remember right. Love you too - take care."

Joe hung up the phone and just stood facing the wall. "THAT BITCH! THAT STINKIN' DIRTY BITCH!" Joey roared.

Lundy stood in the kitchen not moving. He knew his partner would go through a grief process losing Lucia, but what he'd just heard and now saw wasn't what he had expected to happen.

"Major?"

Joey turned and looked up to see Hawk standing in the doorway of his bedroom wearing nothing but black and white striped shorts.

"I know a retired Air Force Colonel in Chicago that Lu lived with when she first enlisted. He's the one who taught most of what she thrives on. If you have a Chicago phone book I could find his name."

"Yeah, I've got one." Joey said breaking into a jog and heading up to his bedroom. In seconds he returned with three thick sections of Chicago area white pages.

Of course the name was in the last book that Feldman looked in. Joey looked at the name then up at Hawk. "You sure this is the man?"

"Yes sir. Why do you know him?"

"Oh yeah. I know him!"

LaFiamma returned to the phone and dialed Roberto's 800 number. "Bobbie! Here's a name and a number of someone Lu used to live with...one of my Marines here said this guy taught her everything she thrives on. You're not going to believe who it is....Shane MacAllister. Yeah. Yeah. Knowing her, bro...I'd do both. Okay."

Joey hung up the phone and slowly turned. He looked from Lundy to Hawk and back again. "Levon, why don't you go up and find the Chicago Package, maybe put the bedroom back together. I'll be up in a few."

"I got a feeling I'd better...."

"I'm not going to hurt him, Levon."

"You sure."

"I'm sure."

As soon as Levon was gone Hawk dropped to his knees and placed his hands behind his head. He saw the anger in the Major's eyes, knew he was going to be drop-kicked or slapped so he figured if he started out on the floor he wouldn't have far to fall.

Joey edged by him, touching his shoulder. "Get up Hawk. On the bed, come on."

"Sir?" Feldman questioned not understanding why the bed was being turned down. He'd spilled names he should be punished or something.

"I'm not going to shoot you. Come on. Shorts on or off -- lay down, face up." Joey said weary from the night's stress.

Still fully clothed, LaFiamma moved onto the bed, spreading Feldman's legs Joe moved between them. Feldman shivered as the man he loved touched each knee that began to walk fingers up his thighs to his rib cage and nipples.

Hawk's hand reached behind him grabbing the bottom of the headboard as LaFiamma's thumb and finger began to tweak the soft aurora flesh around the nipple.

A soft moan escaped Feldman's lips when a tongue and teeth tugged one nipple then the other. Hawk swallowed, his whole body wanted more but he didn't dare ask. Didn't dare push.

"What do you want of me Hawk?" Joey rasped anxiously thinking more of his partner waiting for him upstairs than the wanton man under him.

"Whatever you'll give me, sir. A touch -- a suck -- a fuck -- whatever you want, I'm yours. I've always been yours. I've never belonged to anyone else." Hawk moaned wishing the pleasure would never stop.

"What about when you were married?" Joey asked his tongue in a wandering path down the middle of Hawk's chest to his navel.

"She -- she couldn't compete with you, sir. I loved you too much. Talked about you too much. Called your name even when she and I made love. We divorced after only a year. I just wanted you...just you. Even if you never touched me again, I just wanted to be nearer to you. Just having you look at ...... AARGGH!"

The word was guttural, indistinguishable, it came from deep within Feldman's throat and was heard throughout the house, as Joe's mouth touched, then swallowed Hawk's hard swollen penis. The eruption came fast and was over before Hawk wanted it to be. It was definitely better than being shot.

Joe moved off the bed, reached for the coverlet and draped it over Hawk. Walking to the end of the bed, LaFiamma stood and waited until Hawk's breathing was more controlled, until eyes opened to look at him.

"I apologize for what I did in the kitchen, Hawk. I lost control. I'm sorry. I'll try not to let it happen again."

"If -- if this is the way -- you apologize sir -- you can apologize anytime." Feldman rasped his voice ragged with passion for the man he loved and didn't want to leave.

"You want more than this though - what is it?" Joey asked seeing the look of a lost soul in Hawk's eyes.

"It's not my place to ask for it," Feldman replied his face, eyes looking down away from Joey's gaze.

"You're a man who loves a man who loves you back. Ask."

"I - I just would like to be able to go to sleep with my arms around you - or your arms around me - knowing that in the morning we're still in the same bed. I don't need suckin' and fuckin' all the time. Just the comfort that - that you're there." Feldman replied sheepishly as if asking for the moon.

LaFiamma just stood there. Stood and looked at the Marine lover he'd just given a quick blow job too. Am I pushing too hard, Joe wondered? Expecting too much, more than they want to give.

"I can do that. But to do that - you'd have to move into the master bedroom in that walkout basement apartment. You've changed since our threesome with Levon. You still have your edge, but it's a softer edge now. You've always been a perimeter man ... and residence in the apartment would cover all the points of the house except here. Think about it." LaFiamma said turning toward the door.

"Can I move over there tonight?" Feldman answered with a grin. "Sir?"

Turning, Joey laughed when he saw Hawk was already out of bed.

"Okay Hawkman, do it tonight. And - for me - find those padded handcuffs we used to use. I like the fact that you're my prisoner with no place to go. Don't be surprised, Feldman, if your wish comes true." Joey replied with a smile.

"Wish, sir?" Hawk gasped not understanding the words.

"About being the Captain's main Marine."

"You know about that?!" Hawk answered his eyes wide.

"I'm your C.O. It's my business to know what my Marines are thinking, wanting and doing."

Joe watched Hawk's mouth open and close. "You'd better check out the apartment before you move over there -- AND Feldman -- change that damn lock you missed!" With that LaFiamma opened the door and was gone.

Feldman stared at the closed door. His shoulders shook as he visualized LaFiamma's arms around him as they dozed together.

00ooo00

As Joey came to the top of the stairs he heard voices in Shadow's room. He knew instantly that Hummer was there and they were hashing about ways to control him. Joe burst through the door with such speed that the two Marines jumped to their feet and plastered themselves flat against the wall.

"So - you two disobeying orders - AGAIN?"

The Marines gulped looking at each other than at LaFiamma. "You're both taller and heavier than me, you could take me out in a second -- why don't you?"

"We've seen you fight Sir. You're quick - you go for pain - you're lethal. We wouldn't win." Shadow remarked quietly wondering what was coming next.

"Even if we did win," Hummer mumbled, "you're an officer - we're enlisted. It's a court-martial offense to strike an officer, let alone your C.O."

"Hummer's right in his observation that we will never be equal in rank. I'm your commanding officer and always will be. This is my house - you are my quests - and I control whether you stay or leave. I want both of you in bed. In the morning you can shower then back to your room and read those books you have in your hands. Read them good. If you intimidate Hawk again, pressing him to give information you know he can't give, you will get a lot more than what he just endured."

Joey turned on his heel and walked to the door pausing only for a moment, he looked back and said, "I apologize for my behavior in the kitchen. It was a bad time in San Antonio... one hell of a night." Then he was gone.

Joey stepped into his bedroom. Looking around he was amazed, everything was picked up, straightened up and back in its proper place. "Lundy?"

"In the closet."

"What the hell you doing in here?" Joey asked as he began to take off the rest of his clothes. "Damn, Lundy, I hope I never have to go through a night like this again."

Using the wall, Levon pushed himself to a standing position. "Found this on the floor," the Texan said, holding up the butt end of a rawhide whip. "Nice leather work, hand woven, turquoise. Must have cost a fortune."

"Got it for free. Won it actually. You're right it is nice. Old too." Joey said stepping out of his shorts.

"This one is different than the one you danced with... shorter too. You ever used this on anyone." Levon asked, looking at the smooth enticing flesh of his naked partner.

"Damn, you're beautiful, Joe!" Levon gasped as the Italian walked past him to hang up some clothes.

"I'm wasted, Lundy. Can we just go to bed and read that package in the morning? No loving - just sleep."

"I ain't been cooling my heels up here for nothing LaFiamma! We're doing more than sleep. I've watched you with your Marines. Watched them drool all over themselves when you walk by. I want some of that hot Italian flesh rubbing against this white Texas flesh. Don't have to perform for me, Joe. Just want you."

"That's what Hawk said .. just want you sir, just want you. Well I'm wanted out. I just want sleep. You want sex Levon you'll have to go to one of them - Hawk or Shadow, they'll be glad to satisfy your needs. I need sleep partner. Just sleep."

Lundy watched his partner lift the sheet and literally fall into bed. Joe was asleep before his head hit the pillow.  _[Shadow or Hawk .. he offered me his most trusted men. I want more than just a suck off. Need to be held.]_

Lundy turned the light off in the closet, then the bedroom and quietly closed the bedroom door. He hadn't gone but two steps when Shadow's door opened and Sam asked him to come in for a minute.

"Is he all right, Levon? We've seen him angry but never like this. I mean - he threaten to kill Hawk on the spot. Hummer and I know it was partly our fault, but the Major wasn't backing down. Hawk's usually the one who can defused him but ... we're worried about him. He's been a cop for eight years and now suddenly he's thrust back into the Corps. We know it has been hard on him. We - we don't want him to lose it ---- we don't!"

Levon pulled the man to him, hugging him, fingers working out the knots in the shoulders. "You aren't going to lose him, Sam. Until we know what went down tonight. We just have to give him space."

It was Sam who started the kissing, the unbuttoning of clothes and Levon didn't resist.

Feldman packed his gear in seconds. He hadn't really unpacked except for what he worn tonight. He meandered through the kitchen down the short stairway to the lower level then headed for the apartment that was on the westend of the tri-plex. He stared at the door realizing too late that he didn't have a key to get in. On a whim he tried the doorknob and found it open.

Entering the apartment he found the kitchen to be small, compacted, U-shaped with all the necessities. He liked the round table with a lazy susan in the middle that took up most of the breakfast nook. It had a standard living room with sofa and chairs, a TV, and books. It was the bedrooms he made a beeline for. The first looked like a kid's room with bunkbeds, a big dresser and a chair. The second had a double bed with some kind of a lace cover over it. Frilly curtains, matching white dressers and not much else. Hawk pushed open the last door and before him was a spindled brass bed, pillows piled in the middle and a handmade quilt. "This is it!" Feldman exclaimed.

Upstairs in Shadow's tree house, Levon and Sam were too involved with each other to hear the noise of Hawk's movements under them.

00ooo00

The noise of a door slamming shut bolted Joey upright in bed. He listened but heard nothing else. He was just getting comfortable and pulling the blankets around him when he heard it again. This time he got up, walked to the window and looked out. The moonlight showed him nothing. He walked out of the bedroom and stood on the landing and listened. All was quiet. Shaking his head, Joey walked back into the bedroom, as he started to get back in bed his hand reached out to touch the Chicago Package. His hand stopped in mid-air. The clasped envelope was closed when he went to bed. He remembered touching the clasp. Now it was open, wide open.

LaFiamma looked around. "Grandma - you telling me I need to read this now?" The word 'now' echoed in Joe's head. He turned and walked into his large closet found a pair of sweatpants and stepped into them. Picking up the package he headed to the comfortable chair they had found Lance Baker in. His only stop was at the refrigerator for something to drink.

"How do you do it?" Joey asked the air around him, as he reached in and took the one bottle of root beer that was on the top shelf. Root beer manufactured and sold only in Chicago.

"One of these days, Granny - you're going to have to tell me about this Sicilian and gypsy blood that goes through this Italian's veins."

Joey opened the package and let the letters fall into his lap. About ten or so were rubber banded together. The others were just loose. All looked like they had been opened and resealed.

"Smith you bastard! I bet you opened and read every one ... then used it against the man. What a deranged man you were! Why didn't we see it?"

Joey gathered up all the loose envelopes and put them back in the larger one. He decided to read the ones secured with a rubber band first. He felt there was an urgency here to free someone or something.

LaFiamma looked at the first envelope. He could tell by the marks on the flap that someone, probably Smith, had used a sharp object to open it. Using a fingernail, the flap eagerly gave way to his touch. Joey glanced at the signature before reading the printing - Michael Littlehorse.

 

 

> _"CAPTAIN - PLEASE! PLEASE RE ENLIST! PLEASE! SMITH IS A MAD MAN! A MAD MAN! WE CANT EVEN TELL U WHAT HE PUTS US THRU IF YOU ARENT HERE. PLEASE DON'T LEAV US A LONE WITH HIM. PLEASE."_

Joey laid his head back against the chair, tears welling in his eyes. He could almost hear this American Native screaming these words. An Indian who barely spoke. Who was a great trusted Marine. "Damn," Joey said under his breath, "Is Littlehorse among those in the pool?"

Joe smoothed the wrinkles out of the paper and set it under the telephone. Taking the second letter he noticed that too had the same marks of being forced opened and was resealed. Joey reached into the larger brown envelope to check those envelopes. Most seemed to be intact. Some were not.

Joey looked at the envelope in his hand and noticed some minute letters in the upper left-hand corner. Looking at them more closely he saw they were the letters r and g.

 

 

> _"Captain. I aint never writ a love letter before. Aint really been in love with anybody til I met you. I know my heart pounds in my ear every times you look at me. And that day you pulled me out of the line of fire and yours arms were around me holding me till I stopped shaking. I wished you wouldn't ever let go. Not ever. Just hold me for the rest of my life. Safe in your arms with your fingers playing with my hair. My pee was so hard after that I couldn't walk. That's why I sat down after you left.I hope you get this letter. General Smith said to tell you are true feelings so you would come back. I don't like that man._

> Reginald Gregory III"

"Oh, R.G.," Joey whispered in a barely audible voice. "What abuse he must have put you through. I'm sorry. I really am."

Joe stared at the handwriting on the third envelope. It was Shadow's. LaFiamma was always amazed at Sam Jones' beautiful cursive handwriting.

 

 

> _"Captain LaFiamma._

> I love you. What more is there to say? I don't need lots of sex and all that stuff. Just being with you is enough. I would never refuse you, Sir. All you'd have to do is touch your zipper and look at me then tell me where to go and I will wait for you to come. I love having your sword in my mouth. Love the feel of my tongue curling around it. Love the stiffness of it as it slides down my throat. Captain. I will go anyway. Do anything. Just to have your eyes look upon me. Just to have your smile spread across your face when your eyes light on my face. I love you sir.

> Samuel "Shadow" Jones"

LaFiamma glanced at all the envelopes that were in the rubber band. All were from his main squad. The Marines he picked when he, himself, was going out on a mission ... Littlehorse, Hummerstein, Jones, Feldman, Gregory, Robinson, Darnell, Lakewood, Cooper and Birdman. Joey hadn't known the whereabouts of Mike Littlehorse for sometime. He prayed that Mike wasn't in the pile of bones in Smith's Washington pool.

Joe fished through the envelopes until he found the initials H.F. in the upper left-hand corner. LaFiamma remembered his anger at finding another man fucking Hawk. He remembered pulling the other off his Marine, grabbing Feldman by the ankles like he was a prize deer and dragging him through the middle of the barracks to the showers. A noise behind Joe alerted him to the fact he wasn't alone.

"Hawk?"

"Yes sir. Thought I heard something. Was just checking to make sure Baker wasn't back in the house."

"What happened to Mike Littlehorse?"

Feldman paused in his answer. "'bout three weeks after those letters were collected he was transferred out. Nobody's seen him since. We even had Gerald try to trace him. He never arrived at the base he was transferred to. But he's not listed as AWOL either. You don't think that Smith...."

"Yeah, lover I do... probably in Smith's pool with others that criticized the Colonel. Want to sit with me?" Joe asked quietly.

"Just checking on things, Major."

"Mind if I curl up next to you later?"

Feldman's face showed such glee he almost didn't answer. "Yes sir. I mean.. no sir."

A broad grin spread across the Italian's face. "Just make sure you don't lock me out...by the way, did you change that lock yet."

"I - I - ah... can't find my key. It fell into my duffel bag..I..ah," Hawk stammered. Things were going so right now I'll be back on the limb.

"You can look in the morning. I'll be there shortly. Not going to read all of these tonight." Joey said feeling now that Mike was the one who had to be found and identified.

LaFiamma waited for Hawk to leave before opening his letter.

 

 

> _"Captain Joseph LaFiamma:_

> I hope someday you will forgive me. I was a fool to be talked into the bed you found me in. I needed someone, and you were on a mission. I guess I figured you would never find out. But in my heart I knew I would tell you even if you didn't find out. If I am ever allowed into your bed again, it is a mistake I will never again make. I have never loved anyone with such intensity before. No woman has ever aroused the passion that your presence does. The sight of your beautiful nakedness in the shower is etched in my memory. I just pray that one day in the future I will feel your loving touch, the caress of your hands, the embrace of your arms. Words can't express what I feel, Captain. One word can - stupidity. Stupidity for losing the one thing I loved most.

> Harold "Hawk" Feldman "

LaFiamma folded the letter into fourths and slipped it into the small coin pocket of his sweat pants. Gathering up all the envelopes except Littlehorse's letter, Joey put them back into the brown envelope, then rose up out of his chair.

"Grandma! I need your help in finding Mike here. I got a feeling he was sold into slavery. Slavery somewhere in the U.S. Maybe some other Marines, soldiers are there too. You need to give me some hints, so we can bring him home .. no matter what shape he's in." Joe reached to turn off the light on the table next to the chair, then thought better of it. He was almost at the apartment's door when he had the strongest urge to call his brother Markus.

Markus growled at the ringing phone inches from his ear. Turning he saw that it was his private line. Only family would call him at this time of night. He quickly answered it and was surprised to find his youngest brother on the other end.

Joey's question woke him instantly.  _//If someone wants to sell an enemy into slavery, in the US, who would he go to, where would it be?//_

Markus listened intently as Joey explained his worry and his want to find Marines that had been in his outfit that General Smith hated, disposed of, but were never declared dead and aren't listed as AWOL.

"Joseph... just slow down, will you? Do you know what time it is? Okay, okay. Yes, I'll put out some feelers. You looking for anyone in particular? Littlehorse? An Indian? This guy wouldn't be strapping tall with hair down to his shoulders, would he? Yeah Joey, I know where he is, and you ain't gonna like it one bit, little brother." Markus ran a hand through his hair. How does he tell a kid brother that another brother bought his man and others for a private brothel just for people who hate American soldiers.

"What I'm going to tell you, Joey, is something you can't repeat. And when you raid the place, you can't tell them who your informant is or how you got the information. When I saw your Indian a couple of years ago.... A guest had taken a whip to him pretty bad. But I know Roberto still has him."

Markus' hand yanked the phone away from his ear as Joey screamed Roberto's name. A scream that in Joey's house brought Hawk to his side as well as Hummer, and two naked lovers named Shadow and Levon.

"It's not too far from the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. Hold on and I will give you the exact address. But Joey -- don't give any cops there the tip that you're coming. One of the Chiefs of Detectives pays special for an Air Force captain that's been chained to the wall for years. And please don't ask why I've allowed it to go on - I walk a tightrope in my business. Sometimes you have to look the other way."

Joey's housemates stood silently watching the lines of pain and anger form on his face. LaFiamma took Mike's plead and wrote the address Markus gave him on the back of it.

After hanging up the phone, the foursome watched as Joey's breathing increased. Hawk, who was standing the closest, suddenly stepped back. Seconds later LaFiamma raised his hands, screamed at the top of his lungs then beat upon the back of the chair in front of him.

Half turning to Hawk, Joey said, "it'd be better if he was in Smith's pool."

Levon watched a transformation take place in front of his eyes. Now he knew why Joanne Beaumont was afraid of losing LaFiamma to the Marines. Joe's body stiffened, his jaw tightened, he had a completely different air about him as he began giving orders.

"Hawk! Shadow! Pick up Gerald. Bring him here! Don't take no for an answer. Hummer - wake up R.G., tell him to bring the laptop and all of Smith's journals that are marked with a B. Lundy - who do you know in the Dallas-Fort Worth area? Don't you have a friend who is an investigative reporter? I want him on the phone or here in person, and I want it now." LaFiamma demanded sharply picking up Littlehorse's note, folding it up.

Levon is the only one in the group who dared ask, "why?"

"Why?!" Joe shot back. "Because there is a private prostitute ring near the Dallas airport that is using American GI's as slaves for others who hate American soldiers. And one of those slaves is a Marine of mine that has been missing for seven years. He was seen at this place two years ago. I want him back even if I have to put my brother in jail to do it!"

"Roberto?" Levon asked, already knowing the answer from the look on his partner's face.

"Yeah, my stinking, rotten, brother, Roberto!" LaFiamma growled.

"My friend's in town doing research at the University. He called me while you were in San Antonio. I'll go to the hotel and pick him up. Call him from the lobby, he wouldn't be able to back out if I'm there waiting for him."

00ooo00

Gerald, R.G., Shadow, Hummer, and Hawk watched LaFiamma pace. Watched his anger build. Gerald had ventured to ask a question and LaFiamma barked at him to sit. Finally Lundy arrived with his reporter friend, except as the man entered and glanced at LaFiamma, Joey said sharply, "THIS is your friend?!"

"Levon! You didn't tell me your partner was a LaFiamma!" The man who looked like he stepped out of a Marlboro ad remarked, stopping to face Joe.

All waited for the ensuring fight. Lundy turned back ready to play referee, not knowing what to expect.

"See you're still wearing the hat I got'ya," Joey said his tone softening.

"I tried to lose it. It kept finding its way back," the Marlboro man answered.

"You willing to risk what's going down here?" Joe asked stepping closer.

"You willing to arrest your brother and take a possible hit from your family?"

"Yea - Georgie I am. Damn straight I am!"

"You two KNOW each other?" Lundy exclaimed in amazement.

"I interviewed Joe in Germany after he was rescued in Lebanon. Up to a couple of years ago, we've kept in touch. Miss those anniversary get togethers, Joe." George Linden said with a smile. A smile that Hawk and Shadow understood immediately.

"Levon tell you anything?"

"A bit? And I brought some photos. Your man might be in them. Last year we had an undercover man go into this place as a client. He flew in a couple times a month for about three months, then we had him transferred and he hasn't been there since. We can pull him back if you want. He was a big spender. They'd make room for him if he called on short notice -- say a stopover of a few hours in route elsewhere." Georgie said dropping his briefcase on the floor, squatting to take a large envelope out of it.

LaFiamma motioned George and Levon to sit, and all gathered on the floor in a big circle. George started handing out photos, telling everyone that if they spotted someone they knew to put the photo face down in the middle of the circle.

Linden handed some one way and some the other. Three photos were handed to Levon who looked at them and passed them to Joe. As Joey looked at the first photo he saw Hawk turn a photo face down in the middle. Joe passed the first two photos on and stared wide-eyed at the third.

Lundy's soft voice next to him said, "Joe - this Littlehorse?"

"Yeah," was all LaFiamma could muster as he stared at a black and white photo of the swarthy Michael Littlehorse, his hair still cascading down over his shoulders, a face worn and in pain.

"Major? Couple more from our outfit too. Jingles bunk mate - Ratherford. And that young kid who we all thought got lost in the marsh - he's here."

The pictures were passed to Joe who stared at them, then looked up at Gerald. "You know about these?"

"No. I didn't! Honest! I wasn't responsible for everything he did. He had other sources, other people he dealt with. God, Joey -- I would never sell Littlehorse into a place like this. Never!" Gerald croaked obviously feeling the pain they all saw in the faces in the photos.

"George, how long will it take to put this together? Especially since some of the cops in your city also frequent this place." LaFiamma asked seriously.

"Joe - first we have to find out where they meet! It's a different place than it was two years ago. The rest can be put together quickly if you got the manpower."

"I know where they meet!" Joey answered tightly.

"YOU KNOW WHERE THEY MEET?" Georgie Linden gasped leaping to his feet.

"Hey, you're not the only one with sources, you know," Joey said getting to his feet too.

"Put everyone we know in one pile. Gerald, how many of those Marines that came for Paresely could we count on for this? What other manpower do we need? We have a civilian kidnapping military personnel here. FBI? Defense? Who?"

"What about Admiral English?" Hummer asked assisting himself and Hawk to their feet.

"George? You know English or General Callahan the new Ops commander." Joey asked walking into the kitchen for something to drink.

"Don't know Callahan. English seems to be an honest guy. Heard he was in Houston, which is one of the reasons I came down. In fact that is the reason I chose the Hilton because he was suppose to be staying there."

"And he isn't?"

"The hotel said he was invited to stay at the home of Thomas Baker."

"Shadow - Hummer! Take the van to Doctor Baker's new place. Bring Baker and the Admiral back." LaFiamma barked as he walked to the kitchen.

Joey opened the refrigerator hoping his deceased gypsy grandmother had left him another of his favorite root beers. She hadn't.

"Hey, Joo-eee! Where do you find this root beer down here?" George exclaimed bending down to pick up a six-pack of brown bottles.

Joe returned to the cupboard to get some glasses and placed four small juice glasses on the counter. "This stuff is priceless. I've been saving it for a long time. You can't buy it down here. So this is all you're getting." And with that he gingerly filled each glass.

"Dang, LaFiamma this stuff is good!" Levon cried as he savored each drop.

"Nothing better than home-brewed root beer, Levon. This is brewed in a little place outside of Chicago, and only sold in Chicago. Your family drop it off, Joe?"

"Must'a. Haven't seen it before now."

Hawk looked at the bottle. "This is the same as the one you had down there when you were reading the letters."

"Go down and get that bottle, will you?" Joey asked, knowing the bottle would not be found.

Hawk returned empty handed. "Major! I can't find the bottle! It was on the table by the light when we left, and no one's been down there...."

"No one that you can see," George remarked with a laugh. "Grandma LaFiamma up to her old tricks again, huh?"

"Must be," Joey said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Who's Grandma LaFiamma?" Lundy asked finishing off the last of his glass.

"Dang good root beer from a brewery that's been closed for fifty years!" Joey said pouring everyone another round.

"WHO'S GRANDMA LaFiamma?!!" Lundy repeated, sipping his root beer this time.

"One of Joe's grandmothers. She and her husband decided to make their own root beer and did it for about five years, until the City of Chicago found out they were doing it without a business license. And then the health department found out they were doing it in their cellar. And then the cops closed them down. No one knows what happened to the stash of brewed beer that was in the cellar."

"Maybe she stopped by when no one was home," Levon offered looking from Joe to George and back again.

"Oh she stopped by all right Levon. Trouble is she's been dead for thirty years or more." LaFiamma answered with a smirk.

PSSFFT! Out came the beer the Texan had just started to swallow. Straight onto Hawk's bare chest.

"Thanks a lot Lundy!" Feldman roared looking around for a towel and taking one that Joe took from a drawer.

"The van's back," Joey yelped, "take this root beer along. It might not be here when we come back. Into the living room, let's go."

Hawk and Levon were just settling into a couple of chairs when Hummer walked in the front door followed by Admiral English, Doctor Baker and Shadow.

"What's this?" English cried at seeing LaFiamma alive and well.

"Come in Admiral. Doc. Join us please." Major LaFiamma replied gesturing toward the living room.

"What is going on here, Major!?" The Admiral demanded, "Why were we rousted out of our beds in the middle of the night?"

"It's well past midnight Admiral. Couple more hours you'd be up and out for your run. Believe me, if there was any other way to do this, I would."

"What's this reporter doing here?" Baker asked curtly taking a seat on the far end of the sectional.

"How do you know he's a reporter?" LaFiamma questioned a sudden feeling of misjudgment coming over him.

"He interviewed you in Germany. Came onboard and asked me a hell of a lot of questions that were none of his business!"

Joey laughed, then turned very serious. "Admiral, how long have you known my aunt?"

"Your Aunt Teresa? I've talked with her several times on the phone when you were in the Corps. Whenever she read something about the Marines being in a tight spot she'd call to ask if you were in that tight spot. When you were captured, my office practically had to keep one line free just to receive her calls. The first time I ever met her face-to-face was in Chicago two days ago." English replied giving Joe a strange look. "Has she done something with Lucia that I should know about?"

"Admiral, I would safely say that right now Lucia wishes she'd been shot, fed to the sharks or shoved out of the plane. I don't know what they will do with her, other than use her for sex and that is what she seems to enjoy more than life itself. Had you met Roberto before tonight?"

"No! And I found him a bit strange."

"What about you Doc - have you ever met Roberto?" Joey asked.

"Rob--berto?" Doctor Baker's voice squeaked to a stop as he said the name.

"You have met him, haven't you? Did you try to get him to take Lance?" LaFiamma demanded as Baker took a position against the wall.

"Look, this man Roberto is a pimp! Someone referred him to me, someone I knew in the Navy. His places are suppose to be really clean and upstanding - if those places can be."

"George, give him the pictures we couldn't identify. You know any of these men, Doc?" Joey asked, walking to where Baker was standing, handing him the photos that he'd taken from George.

"Ah.. this one...and this one. The last I heard they're still listed as AWOL."

"They aren't AWOL, Doc," Joey replied calmly. "They were kidnapped. As were these Marines - show him the pictures Hawk. One of those photos is a damn good Marine from my outfit that General Smith took a dislike too. All these men were kidnapped, Doc - Admiral. Some of them, like this Air Force officer, have been chained to a wall or worse for years. Why? Knowing Roberto - for anything his client is willing to pay for -- sex, mutilation, whips, chains, pain! For the sheer pleasure of and use of someone who hates soldiers."

"What country are they in? I can get a task force together...." Admiral English began.

"They're in Texas, Admiral! Right here under our noses - a few blocks from the Dallas-Fort Worth International Air Terminal. We've already started to put together a unit to break into this place. And that includes Marines, Feds and cops. What we need to know is which side you gentlemen are on?" LaFiamma folded his arms across his chest and waited.

Baker and English looked at each other than back at Joe. "Are you asking us if we've betrayed our country and its fighting men by helping to supply Roberto..." The words caught in the Admiral's throat, he couldn't finish his sentence.

"That is exactly what we are asking," George replied taking the burnt of the verbal attack off LaFiamma. Turning to Baker, Linden asked, "would you agree to accompany us? These pictures were taken a year ago. No telling what shape these men or others are in now."

"Damn right I'll go with you!" Thomas Baker said moving off the wall. "I've seen enough soldiers in body bags to last a lifetime. Only one of those," Baker reiterated," "ever got up and walked out of one. Count me in!"

-=-=-=-=--

Twenty-four hours later, thirty men in navy blue jackets with POLICE written across the back in bright yellow, huddled inside two parked semi-trailers at the front gate of a tree lined drive. Levon's call to his FBI friend netted more than they all bargained for. The Feds had ordered the street in front of property address that Joe had been given dug up, hoping to find things that may be flushed away. Now those construction trailers held the Marines, cops and Feds that would soon storm the place. George had given the FBI more evidence than any of their informants had come up with. Forty more men with POLICE jackets were stationed around the perimeter.

Then Joey saw the car - the white limo that Roberto had specially made just for him. "This is Major LaFiamma. Here comes Roberto." LaFiamma said into a radio clipped to his jacket. "The limo he's in is bullet proof so let him get out and go into the house. Once he's inside give him five, then we hit hard and fast. Every room gentlemen! Every floor! Every man, woman or child you find bring them out to the cops on the outside. Then return to look again. Open anything that looks like a door. If you can't open it, break it down - just remember there might be a prisoner on the other side. After you search the rooms start taking the paneling off the walls. I know this man! We're not leaving until we find every person on the lists you were given."

Joey watched the limo turn into the drive and disappear through the trees. Looks like Lucia might end up with Markus after all, he thought.

The truck doors opened and the armed men piled out. Marines soon surrounded LaFiamma and much to the FBI's dismay they soon found that they were not in charge at all. The Feds were further confused when LaFiamma began signing and the Marines signed back.

"What the hell's he saying?" One agent groused wondering why he was even here.

A cop to his left replied, "LaFiamma is asking for a complete sweep. That means every closet, cupboard, every shelf, under every bed, behind every picture. Those Marines are going to have to account for every room they're in - what they saw - what they took. The Marines are going in first since most of the prisoners in there are military... we're just here to pick up the pieces or get those who somehow get out."

Joe gave in an indistinguishable word over his mike. The cops watched the Marines break into a jog, then followed behind them up the drive, then the cop broke off the drive to form a circle that soon surrounded the whole Victorian house.

Standing with the cops, Levon watched as Joe and Hawk entered the house first. Two by two the Marines entered. First into the foyer, where a butler and maid were found, they were quietly issued outside. Marines moved off to the lower rooms where more housekeepers, cooks, and women in various forms of dress were found. All were ushered out into the hands of the police and Feds.

On the second floor LaFiamma had two men stand guard at the top of the stairs weapons ready. Signed for others to do the same on the next level. Hawk went ahead, touching each door and listening. Half way down the hall he turned looked at LaFiamma and mouthed the word - ROB BERT TOE. Joe silently pointed to each room Hawk had passed up, telling his men to enter with caution and take whoever they found down to the living room. To tag the rooms where a prisoner was found but couldn't be released. Silently LaFiamma moved to where Hawk stood. He raised his gloved fist and knocked.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO DISTURB ME! NOW GET LOST!" Roberto LaFiamma shouted from behind the door.

"Ist your brather. He hurt!" Joey said in an exaggerated accent.

Under his breath Joe counted, "One. Two. Three." KICK! The door flew open with such force that when it hit Roberto it came back into Joe's face. Luckily Hawk had moved in and deflected it or Joe might have been the one knocked to the floor instead of his brother. Once inside the room, Joey saw who Bobbie was about to have. Two words in a language that only Littlehorse understood, brought the Indian out of bed and to his feet. Joey's nostrils flared. He clasped his hands together and hit his brother in the middle section. Before Bobbie could catch his breath, Joey did his famous little kick, the heel of his boot caught his brother directly in the balls and Roberto fell backward onto the bed moaning in pain.

Touching Mike's face, Joey saw the man had some of kind of a mask covering his eyes. Looking closer, Joey gagged at what he saw. It wasn't a mask, it was tape. Like duck tape. Gently touching Mike's chin, LaFiamma said softly, "Sorry I didn't get here sooner, Littlehorse. Just found out where you were today."

"Hawk, take Littlehorse down into the living room for Doc Baker to look at. And walk careful, Mike is blind. Then come back up here."

"My pleasure, Major!" Hawk said putting Littlehorse's arm around his shoulder.

Bobbie waited until the door was closed before he crawled on his knees to the end of the bed. Looking up at his baby brother, Roberto said, "So you want to bargain, do you? Don't have anything to bargain with now do you? Gave her a way didn't y...?"

Joey's fist caught Roberto square in the jaw, his other fist came up under his brother's jaw. Spinning on the heel of one boot, Joey lashed out with the second foot slamming it into his brother's shoulder sending him in agony to the floor.

"I'm closing you down, Bobbie! I'm taking this place apart piece by piece. Every piece of wall board. Every closet - Every brick - the only thing that's going to be left is the four corners, and I might just take them too. On your feet, you stinkin' bastard!"

Joey grabbed his brother and forced him to stand, then knocked him down again. "That and this!" Joe grunted, kicking his brother in the groin again, "is for every member of the family that's being arrested in Chicago right now. How many of them have you dragged into this little kidnapping scheme, I don't know, but it stops right here!"

"Chicago members?" Bobbie gasped wiping blood from his bleeding lip. "Joey you can't be serious? Nobody in Chicago knows about this! I'm pocketing the money I make here. I don't share it with anyone. They don't know about it! Oh god - are you having Teresa arrested?"

"Let's go, big brother. You're under arrest. Someone will read you your rights downstairs, I'm sure you know them by heart by now.." Joey said opening the door, ushering his brother out into Levon's arms.

"LaFiamma. The Marines found something in the basement. Want you down there before they open it." Lundy remarked, grabbing what was left of Roberto, ordering another officer to cuff him and read him his rights.

"What's down there, big brother? Is it booby-trapped?" Joey quizzed grabbing his brother by the throat and pushing him up against the wall. "Well, is it?"

"No. I -- I got a key for the door. Takes two men to open it. Solid steel." Roberto muttered.

"Who's behind it? Dead or alive?" Joe asked staring daggers into the face of his brother, who now knew it was best to cooperate.

"Alive, they're alive! The dead ones are in cold storage other side of the basement."

"Lundy, get this bastard out of my sight, will you?"

"Sure thing partner." Levon answered searching Roberto pockets for the keys.

As Joey descended the wooden stairway into the half-lit basement, Hummer greeted him. "Major! This door can't be opened."

"I got the keys!" LaFiamma answered holding up a ring of three keys. "Other side of the basement is a cold storage unit. Suppose to be bodies in it. Check it out, then get the medics down here for that and for those who are behind this door."

Joe watched as the large steel door was unlocked and two Marines slowly moved it open. Another Marine found a light switch, as light flooded the area inside four small cubicles were revealed. Straight in was the Air Force officer, his once proud uniform now literally in rags around him. His face swollen, his ankle almost embedded in the chain that held him to the wall.

"Hawk! Get Baker down here NOW!" LaFiamma shouted.

"Cap'n LaFiamma?" A weak voice in the last cubicle rasped. "Cap'n is that you?"

Joe moved, with another Marine at his side, down to the voice that called his name. "Ratherford?" LaFiamma gasped, gawking at the man strapped to a chair much like the corner chair that he put Hawk in. His arms and legs stretched out to his side, his cock and balls hanging out into the air.

"CUT THIS MAN OUT OF HERE!" LaFiamma barked sharply turning to inspect the other two cubicles.

"MAJOR! MAJOR LAFIAMMA!" A young Marine yelled coming to a halt just inside the steel door. "A man's been found upstairs. Shadow says its one of your men! He's not responding to anyone! Shadow thinks he might respond to you."

"Okay," Joe said nodding to the man. Turning his attention to his friend Captain Charlie Wallingwood, Joe said, "Charlie! Don't leave here until you are sure you've found everyone."

"Don't worry, Sir. The only thing left will be dandruff."

Joe looked at Wallingwood and smiled. Easy for him to say - he's bald.

LaFiamma followed the young Marine and was joined by his partner as they headed back up to the second floor. "You got family members calling you, LaFiamma. There's a barrage of press and TV cameras out in the street. Even got TV choppers in the air. English said to tell you that Callahan might be involved."

"Yeah, I bet I'll hear good from Aunt Teresa! I figured Callahan was involved soon as I saw Littlehorse. I saw him tape prisoner's eyes shut in South America. The men practically tore their eyelids off when Callahan's men set them free. I'm going to let Hawk and Littlehorse take that man down."

"Here we are, Sir." The man said knocking lightly on the closed door.

"Major," Shadow said upon opening the door. "It's the kid from the marsh. We found him strapped face down on the bed. Who knows how many times he's been fucked. He doesn't answer to his name or anything."

"His name is Marsh, right?" Joey asked watching Sam nod in agreement. "Anyone got night makeup on them?" LaFiamma asked of the four men in the room.

Three hands stretched toward him. Joe took one, opened the cover then knelt down in front of the half naked man.

"So, lit-till Marsh-an! You think you're really big enough - to be a Marine?" Joey blurted out bluntly, two fingers spreading a black smudge across Marsh's face.

Others in the room saw hints of something pass over Marsh's face.

"You really, really think -- a Marsh is going to make it - through this march in the marsh? Do you? You can't even hike ten miles!" Joey said, pronouncing every word distinctly.

Robby Marsh blinked at the man kneeling in front of him. He knew the man from somewhere. The man was dressed like a Marine. He was a Marine, at least he used to be a Marine. But this man had gold leaves on his shoulders. He didn't know anyone officer with gold leaves. Then he heard the words, "Captain LaFiamma" and saw the man in front of him turn and talk to someone next to him.

"Cap'nLaFiamma?" Robby's slurred words were barely audible, but to Joe and others present in the room it was like a shout.

"You're safe, Robbie," LaFiamma said softly, reaching up to touch the man's neck. "No one's going to hurt you anymore."

Marsh fell forward into Joe's arms who held him while he sobbed. "Let it out, son. Let it all out." Joey soothed, as a medic came and draped a blanket around them. Lundy and the medic waited for thirty minutes until finally Joe moved. Marsh panicked the minute the medic came toward him.

"I'll take him down," LaFiamma replied quietly, talking to Marsh as they walked. Marines, cops, even Feds moved out of the way of LaFiamma and his charge, as Joe walked with and half carried the man that had barely made weight to get into the Corps. The picture of Joe carrying out this Marine would be on the front page of every newspaper around the world by morning.

Reaching one of the parked ambulances, Joe assured Marsh several times that he was safe and that LaFiamma would come to the hospital.

"Sir -- I didn't get lost."

"I know. Littlehorse didn't get lost either."

"Littlehorse was here too? I - I saw Ratherford once - long time ago. He lipped off to some big Italian guy and was dragged from the room. When the man came back with blood on his hands, I figured I better do what they said. I - I think I know what the POWs endured now. Where- where are we, sir?" Marsh asked glancing around at the people milling about.

"You do what the medic says...I'll be in to see you later."

LaFiamma waited until the ambulance was on its way before turning to Hawk. "What have we got so far?"

"Twenty-four found alive. Thirteen in cold storage. The housekeeper has family being forced to work in Roberto's New York brothel. Found some girls, used mostly for cleaning the rooms, and cleaning up the men between clients. Two were snatched off the streets of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The rest answered ads, and once they were in the house weren't allowed to leave. Your brother's ranting about the family putting a hit on you for arresting Aunt Teresa. The cops are telling him if he doesn't come clean he can forget about seeing daylight. The second team is in the house taking the paneling down. Haven't heard if they found anyone yet."

"Where is my dear big brother?" Joe asked looking around to see what activity was going on outside.

"That police car with the armed guards around it."

"Lundy, have him brought into the house. The kitchen will do. Don't give me that look, just do it. The guards can come along."

Roberto was calm until he saw Joe. "KEEP HIM AWAY FROM ME!" Joe's brother shouted. "YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME HERE! YOU'RE COPS - HEY WHERE YOU GOING?"

"Roberto. Roberto... where is that brotherly garbage you're always giving me." Joey cooed into the face of his biggest brother.

"Who else in the family is involved in this kidnapping scheme of yours, huh? You're not going to an Illinois jail here, bro. You're going to a Federal pen. Maybe even Leavenworth." Joey said in an evenly monotone voice.

The word 'Leavenworth' got Roberto's attention. "Teresa and Mikey knew nothing about it. Honestly, Joey they didn't. Victorio is the one who started it. When he died of a heart attack I took over his operation. Your Colonel Smith supplied the men, I supplied the clients. I nurtured them, kept them well fed. They last longer that way, you know."

"What about the four in the basement? They weren't well cared for."

Bobbie looked at his younger brother. "I couldn't do anything about them, Joey. I couldn't. A high paying client who had a contract with Victorio owned them. I just found out today who that client was, that's why I came down here. The person that owns those in that steel dungeon is our girl - Lucia!"

"Lucia?" Joey gasped disbelief crossing his face.

"Yea, little brother - your ex-wife and my new slut!" Bobbie remarked with a sneer.

"What the hell would she want with....?"

"She's a nymph - worst I've ever seen, and I've seen a few. She craves it! When Smith split the two of you up, she started collecting her own men. Had them stashed here and there around the world. When one wore out, she'd find another one. I don't know all the details, Joe. She just threw this in my face this morning."

"Where does Callahan fit into this?" Joe asked evenly, seeing Admiral English behind the group of four cops.

"Ah, General Callahan. He's the one who taped your Indian's eyes shut! He's a bastard, Joey. A real mean one. Littlehorse has been like that for two years. Guess Littlehorse recognized him and the General wanted to make sure he didn't see anyone else he sent to have him. I didn't know how bad it was - really Joey, I didn't it - not until I tried to take the tape off after Callahan left." Bobbie said, his voice tired, shoulders slumped. "The family's going to put a hit out on you, you know that."

"So what else is new? I think, though, big brother, you're the one that's in trouble here. Setting up shop and keeping the money for yourself. There are other family members besides me who have been in the service - none of them are going to take kindly to what you've done here. And Vic's family - you know what's going to happen to them."

"Joe?" Lundy said from behind his partner. "The cops want him back now."

"In a minute."

"What about Lucia? If she goes before a jury in her little girl dress all sobs, you know she'll get off. Markus had a special spot for her. You willing to write me a verbal release turning her over to him."

"Got paper? That woman is bad luck. I'll be glad to get her out of my house. I hope Markie can handle her." Roberto said taking a note pad from Admiral English.

LaFiamma stood back against the wall silently watching his brother writing a note to release the bitch that started this all. Glad though that Lu was finally out of his life. Glad that his mysterious dead gypsy grandmother worked the way she did.

"MAJOR! COME QUICK! LITTLEHORSE HAS GONE BERSERK!!" Hummer screamed running into the kitchen, sliding to a stop inches from LaFiamma.

"Is Callahan out there?" Joey said unmoving.

"Yeah, he just arrived with a carload of people." Hummer replied not understanding why his Major wasn't already out the door.

Lundy watched as Joe unclipped the microphone from his shoulder, held it a couple inches from his face and began to speak into it in a very tight controlled voice. "Attention! This is Major - LaFiamma! Any Marine - who was in Columbia -when a Special Ops officer - taped a prisoner's eyes shut. That officer - has just arrived! That officer - did this - to Littlehorse. Detain him and anyone who is with him!"

A CNN reporter and cameraman were trying to get conversation with a Marine when LaFiamma's word 'Attention' came over the Marine's mike. They watched the man freeze. Watched his eyes blaze fire as LaFiamma's words filled the air around them. Before they could question the Marine, he was off on a split-second run.

Five Marines took General Callahan to the ground. Many more surrounded his entourage.

"Levon? Anything else?" Joey asked his partner as he clipped his mike back onto his jacket.

"We found some skeletons in the walls. I don't think Roberto even knew they were there. Once the rest of the walls are taken down and the basement is hosed down, the house is being turned over to the fire department for a training house."

"Be best to burn it to the ground. Thanks partner," Joey said, his voice etched in weariness. "I'm going to accompany Littlehorse to the hospital. You come by later? Oh, you might alert Houston. There's going to be some assassins looking for me. Not only my family - but also the clients that came to this place."

"According to Admiral English, you're going to have more Marines assigned to you than you have cops under you." Levon watched his partner roll his head with disgust. They both knew the two of them could neutralize anyone who was sent.

"We ever going to get back to being cops, Levon? This military jazz is getting to me. I could use a nice peaceful fight with my partner."

"Does sound good at that. Seeing you here today -- now I know why Joanne is worried about losing you to the Corps. These men jump at you every command. Hang on your every word."

"Cause I'm an officer, Lundy. If I was a Sergeant, I'd be just another grunt like them."

"But you're not, Joe. And that's what makes you different. You're not only an officer - you care about your men, and they know that." Levon replied urging his partner outside. "Come on, the ambulance with Littlehorse is waiting for you. The man refuses to leave until he sees you."

"Yeah, Michael Littlehorse always was stubborn. Half-Indian, half French Canadian - probably what kept him alive. God, imagine being in this place for seven years."

Just before LaFiamma went through the front door, Levon caught his arm. "Joe. What's happening out there? What went down in here? It's being played around the world. The picture of you carrying out Marsh is already on the front page of papers."

"So much for keeping my mob family out of the press, huh, cowboy?"

"I think, partner, you just discovered who was more important in your life, and it ain't them."

Joey looked at his partner. "They're still family, Levon. We'll see where they stand after all this calms down, and heads stop rolling. Try and tell the Admiral that you and I can handle whatever comes our way. I don't want any Marines following us around besides the three we got now."

Major Joseph LaFiamma stepped out onto the front porch of the battered Victorian mansion. His eyes scanned the grounds in front of him. Cops, Marines, a few FBI men and a huge array of television cameras were scattered about. "Wished you'd told me about this part, Grandma," Joey whispered quietly as he jogged down the steps. Over his mike he heard "ATTENTION!" and was startled to see all the Marines fall into a line from the porch to the waiting ambulance. Bet this will make the papers too, Joe thought as he broke into a jog toward the man squatting behind the ambulance.

"Michael!" LaFiamma yelped as he approached. Joe watched in amazement as Littlehorse, blind, with open wounds on his back, sprang to his feet and saluted his commanding officer.

Joe returned the salute and said quietly, "you're gettin' in this first aid wagon if I have to put you in!"

"Yes SIR!" Came the sharp retort, a hand reaching out toward one of the medics.

"It's against regulations for you to ride with us Major - but he says he won't leave unless you're here, so you might as well hop in." Paramedic Dick Richardson said motioning LaFiamma into the back.

-=-=-=-=-

A few hours later, Joe leaned against the wall of the hospital waiting room watching the Play of the Day - him.

"Joe? Brought you some food. Chinese for you. Chicken for me. Hungry?"

"Thanks partner," Joe said moving away from the wall, taking the brown bag his partner held out to him. "I'm starved."

"What's the word?" Lundy asked, settling into a vinyl chair and breaking open the container that held his fried chicken.

"Ratherford, and the Air Force officer found in that steel dungeon have already been airlifted to Walter Reed Hospital." Joey replied slowly putting together chopsticks and unfolding the tub that held his dinner.

"Not sure about Marsh. Mentally he is unstable. Who wouldn't be with what went down in that house? Certain hospital personnel come toward him and he freaks out. Doc Baker said Marsh has some designs painted on him - front and back. Almost like someone dressed up as a doctor then pretended to cut him apart."

"Joe, we know there are some strange people out there. People with sex fantasies don't always engage in the act themselves. Other things turn them on." Levon replied between bites on a drumstick. "What about Littlehorse?"

"Michael Littlehorse. Now there's a man. The only man in my outfit who never asked for sex. We're taking him home with us, maybe someday his family might claim him, but I doubt it. Hummer's camped out in his room now. He's going to move into the apartment with Hawk - that in-law apartment on the lower level. Callahan didn't just happen along. Those men with him were there for Michael. He was Callahan's special stud. Only used on a monthly basis, but when he was used, it was brutal." Joey explained lovingly touching his partner's arm. "That blond girl with the frizzy hair told me some of the things they used on Littlehorse. It was her job to clean him up between men."

"Clean him up??" Lundy gasped almost dropping his chicken.

"Callahan arrived on a monthly basis always bringing officers from another country. They stuffed sex toys up his ass, down his penis, whipped him, gagged him..." Joey swallowed tears filling his eyes, "Damn it's a wonder he even survived this long."

"What about the tape on his eyes?"

"An eye doctor is flying in from California. A specialist, I guess. Doctor Baker called him personally. Baker said it would be a long tedious operation but he thinks they can remove enough of it for Mike's eyelids to open and close. Littlehorse has had shoulder length hair for as long as I've known him. He got a deposition from the BIA not to have his head shaved when he enlisted. And they didn't! Right now it's cut above the ears, which had to be done to get the tape out of his hair. He's not a happy camper."

Suddenly down the hall came a crash, a scream and a yell.

"What the hell was that?" Lundy yelped dropping his chicken but catching it before it hit the floor.

"That, partner of mine, is Littlehorse! That is why I am still here instead of snoozing in some nice comfortable hotel bed."

LaFiamma dropped his Chinese dinner and dashed for the hall, with Lundy right behind him. Down the hall came a wild man, half-naked, and his hospital gown flying in all directions.

"SERGEANT LITTLEHORSE!" LaFiamma barked sharply, standing directly in the path of the man charging down the hall. "YOU ARE GOING TO BE A PRIVATE IF YOU KEEP THIS UP!"

Levon watched Littlehorse stop and cock his head to listen.

"If I have to tell you to get into that hospital bed one more time, I will personally tie you down myself! You want to see again? Your hair had to be cut! Get back to bed! " Joey barked harshly standing his ground against his man who in spite of his injuries was hefty and bigger than his C.O. "NOW! Littlehorse!"

Lundy did all he could to keep from laughing. Littlehorse snorted, much like Levon's own horse Fooler when he didn't want to do something but knew he had to. The man's head shook, then he turned and calmly walked back to his room.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Two weeks later, LaFiamma and the girl with frizzy hair, named Laura Riddley stood at the end of Littlehorse's hospital bed and watched as Doctor Baker slowed peeled off bandages from Michael Littlehorse's head. The lights were low in the room because Baker knew the eyes would be sensitive to light for a while.

"Open them slowly," Tom Baker instructed, motioning Joe and Laura to the side of the bed.

Mike opened his eyes and focused on Laura, then LaFiamma. "May-jor? Am I AWOL?"

"No Sergeant Littlehorse, you are not. Callahan's been putting your paychecks by direct deposit into your Oklahoma bank account. You got a wad of money piled up there." Joey said, then putting his hand lightly on Laura's head. LaFiamma looked from one to the other then said, "Laura Riddley - Michael Littlehorse. Littlehorse, this is the lady whose taken care of you, and if you don't hug her I will!"

Baker and LaFiamma smiled at each other and left the two alone.

-=-=-=-=-

"Doc, you got a guru here that knows the answers to everything?" LaFiamma asked in all seriousness.

"You got problems, Joe?"

"Yea - I got one big, big problem. Half of me wants to stay in the Corps, half of me wants to get back to being a cop."

"From what I've seen over the last two weeks Joe. You are one hell of a Marine. When your words can stop a man like Littlehorse dead in his tracks, you've got power and respect. But I also know you and Levon are the best detective team in Houston, and there are a lot of people who want to see that duo clean up the southwest neighborhood." Baker said motioning Joe into a doctor's lounge for some coffee.

"And from what English told me, that neighborhood will never be the same once you and Lundy, and Handsome's Hooligans gets done with it." Doctor Tom Baker continued stirring cream into his coffee.

"Handsome's Hooligans? Handsome's Harem? Who the hell picks out these names anyway?" Joey asked slowly sipping the steaming coffee.

"Hooligans because you were daring, smart and took no guff. And you turned some misfits into starched, rough and ready Marines. Harem...? Couple of your Marines look like they would love to have a gold ring in their nose ready to be pulled in any minute."

"Gold ring? Doc! No more coffee for you!" Joey blurted, giving himself a reminder to talk with his escorts about their looks.

"Joe, Reservists around the country are weekend warriors. Don't see why you can't be too. Pass it by Lieutenant Beaumont. Bet she'd be more than happy to agree. Especially when she finds out you want to return to being a full-time cop."

"Thanks, Doc, hope this advise is on the house," Joey replied seeing Lundy standing in the hall. "Looks like that other half of me is itching to get back into the harness too. Let me know when Littlehorse and Laura can come home. I'm offering them a part of my house."

"The apartment, huh? What about her parents? Don't they want her back in Iowa?"

"Her father watched the news and figured if she was still alive she must a whore. Her mother just cried over the phone. Littlehorse is going to ask her to be his wife - they've been together for four years already, neither one can go back to their other life...."

A war hoop was heard down the hall. "Guess that means Laura said yes," LaFiamma replied with a grin.

-=-=-=-==-=-

Walking out into the hospital corridor, LaFiamma touched Lundy's shoulder, "What do you say we get back to cleaning up the town, partner?"

"Thought you'd never ask!" Levon replied with a grin, turning to walk shoulder to shoulder back to check on Littlehorse before they headed back to Reisner.

 

THE END

 


End file.
